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THE SHORES OE
THE ADRIATIC

THE AUSTRIAN SIDE

HERZEGOVINIAN WOMEN AT A BAKER'S SHOP IN RAGUSA

Frontispiece

THE SHORES OF
THE ADRIATIC

THE AUSTRIAN SIDE

THE KUSTENLANDE, ISTRIA, AND DALMATIA
By F. HAMILTON JACKSON, R.B.A.

VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTE OF DECORATIVE DESIGNERS
CANTOR LECTURER, ETC.

FULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH PLANS, DRAWINGS BY THE

AUTHOR, AND PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN SPECIALLY

FOR THIS WORK

LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.

1908

PRINTED BY
HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD.
LONDON AND AYLESBURY.

PREFACE

This volume is complementary to that dealing with
the Italian side of the Adriatic, and follows much the
same lines. It has not been thought necessary to
repeat what appeared there about the sea itself, but
some further details on the subject have been added
in an introductory chapter. The concluding chapter
treats of the influence which the two coasts exerted
on each other, and contains some hints as to certain
archaeological problems of great interest, which deserve
fuller and more individual treatment than they can
receive in such a work as the present.

In a country which still contains so much that is
unfamiliar, so many mediaeval survivals in customs
and costume, and so much that is fine in scenery,
architecture, and the decorative arts, the picturesque
aspect of the country has been dwelt upon more than
was the case in dealing with the Italian side, and the
meticulous description of buildings has to a great
extent been abandoned, except in cases where it was
necessary for the full understanding of the deductions
drawn from existing details. At the same time,
matters of archaeology have not been neglected, and
the rich remains of mediaeval goldsmiths' work have
received special attention. The costume, the customs,
and the folk-lore of the Morlacchi are also treated
of in considerable detail.

The determination of the Croat majority to stamp
out the Italian language by insisting upon instruction

vi PREFACE

in the schools being given solely in Croat will, in the
course of a generation, make Italian a foreign language
understood by few ; and it seems wise for those who
desire to visit Dalmatia to do so soon, while it is still
understood and before Italian culture is forgotten.

The present work does not pretend to in any
way rival Mr. T. G. Jackson's classic volumes on the
architecture of the country, in completeness of historical
treatment or architectural detail. Though Sir Gardner
Wilkinson had published a book on the country, and
the brothers Adam's full description of Diocletian's
Palace was well known to connoisseurs, he may be
said to have practically discovered Dalmatia for the
Englishman ; and it is a proof of the excellence of his
work that, though twenty years have elapsed since it
was published, it has never been surpassed, and its
value remains undiminished. To these volumes the
author desires to acknowledge his indebtedness, as well
as to the " Mittheilungen " of the Austrian Central
Commission for the Conservation of Historical Monu-
ments ; the " Bullettino di Storia Dalmata," con-
ducted by Mgr. Bulic at Spalato ; .the " Atti " of
the Istrian " Societa di Archeologia e Storia Patria,"
published at Parenzo ; and the " Archeografo Triestino,"
published at Trieste, all chronicling discoveries as they
were made, and containing articles giving interesting
and reliable information upon the history and antiqui-
ties of the coast. In addition, the following works
have been consulted :

Freeman's "Subject Lands of Venice"; Munro's
" Rambles and Studies in Bosnia and Herzegovina" ;
Neale's "Travels in Dalmatia" ; Villari's " Ragusa" ;
Benussi's " LTstria " ; Bianchi's " Zara Cristiana " and
" Antichita Romane e mediaevale di Zara " ; Mgr. Bulic's
" Guide to Spalato and Salona " ; Caprin's " II Trecento
a Trieste," " Alpi Gulie," and " LTstria noblissima " ;

PREFACE vii

Carrara's " La Dalmazia descritta " ; Chiudina's " Le
Castella di Spalato " ; Fabianich's " La Dalmazia ne
primi cinque secoli del Cristianesimo " ; Fosco's " La
Cathedrale di Sebenico"; Franceschi's " L'Istria " ;
Gelcich's " Memorie storiche delle Bocche di Cattaro"
and " Dello Sviluppo civile di Ragusa"; Lago's
" Memorie sulla Dalmazia " ; Lucio's " History of Dal-
matia and Trau " ; Ludwig and Molmenti's " Vittore
Carpaccio"; Mantegazza's " L'Altra Sponda " ; Mod-
rich's " La Dalmazia " ; Pasini's " II Tesoro di S. Marco
in Venezia " ; Cav. G. B. di Rossi's " La Capsella Argen-
tea africana," &c, and the two series of " Bullettino di
Archeologia Cristiana " ; Sabalich's " Guida Archeo-
logica di Zaza " ; Tamaro's " Le Citta dell' Istria " ; and
volumes of the Zara " Annuario Dalmatico " ; Bamber-
ger's " Blaues Meer und Schwarze Berge " ; Danilo's
u Dalmatien " ; "Die Monarchic in Wort und Bild " ;
Eitelberger von Edelberg's " Gesammelte Kunsthis-
torischen Schriften " ; Hauser's " Spalato und die
monumente Dalmatiens " ; Heider's " Mittelaltliche
Kunst denkmale des (Esterreichischen Kaiserstaates " ;
Passarge's " Dalmatien und Montenegro "; Petermann's
" Fiihrer durch Dalmatien " ; Tomasin's " Die Volk-
stamme im Gebiete von Triest und in Istrien"; Von
Warsberg's " Dalmatien " ; and Count Lanckoronski's
magnificent monograph of the Cathedral of Aquileia.
A small portion of the matter of this volume has
appeared in The Builder and The Guardian, but has
been revised and, to a great extent, rewritten. The
author's thanks are due to the proprietors for per-
mission to republish these articles. He desires to
express his thanks also to the Austrian Government
especially, and to the ecclesiastical authorities, for
special facilities very kindly afforded him for prose-
cuting his studies ; to the Central Commission, for the
loan of cliches of most of the plans ; to the directorate

viii PREFACE

of the Archeografo Triestino, for permission to re-
produce the plan of the cathedral, Trieste; to the
Istrian Archaeological Society, for the plan of the three
cathedrals of Parenzo, and for permission, very
courteously given by the president, Dr. Amoroso, to use
anything published by them on the subject ; to Mgr.
Bulic, Sig. Maionica, Curator of the Museum, Aquileia,
and to Sig. Puschi, of the Museum, Trieste, for much
information kindly given by word of mouth ; and to
Mr. Palmer, Librarian of the Art Library, South
Kensington, for calling his attention to several books
which were exceedingly useful.

The photographs (as in the Italian volume) are
from the excellent negatives of Mr. Cooper Ashton, the
travelling companion of many foreign archaeological
expeditions.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface v

Lists of Illustrations and Plans .... xi-xv

I. Introductory Chapter i

II. The Races and their Customs .... 6

III. Aquileia 23

IV. Grado 41

V. Grado to Trieste 54

VI. Historical Sketch of Istria . . . .69

VII. MUGGIA TO PlRANO 79

VIII. Umago to Parenzo 104

IX. Parenzo 107

X. To Pola by Sea 127

XL To Pola by Land 133

XII. Pola 143

XIII. Characteristics of the Istrian Coast . . . 160

XIV. FlUME AND VEGLIA 163

XV. OSSERO AND CHERSO l8o

XVI. Historical Sketch of Dalmatia .... 187

XVII. Arbe 192

XVIII. Zara 205,

ix b

x CONTENTS

PAGE

XIX. Sebenico 245

XX. Trau and the Riviera dei Sette Castelli . 262

XXI. Spalato 292

XXII. The Southern Group of Islands . . . 316

XXIII. Ragusa 333

XXIV. The Bocche di Cattaro 369

XXV. The Reciprocal Influences of the Two Shores 397

Index 409

ILLUSTRATIONS

I. FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

Herzegovinian Women at a Baker's Shop in Ragusa
Statue of Venus, Museum, Aquileia .
Pulpit in the Cathedral, Grado ....
Shipping at Trieste : the Canal, with the Greek Church

and Sant* Antonio

Pirano, from near the Cathedral ....

Marble Capital of the Sixth Century, Parenzo .

High-altar, Parenzo, from the South Aisle .

Wine-boats in the Fiumara Canal, Fiume .

South Portion of Choir-screen, Cathedral, Veglia

The Harbour of Besca Nova

Chimneys at Besca Nova .

Monstrance in Colleggiata, Ossero

Smergo Fishermen

Ascent to the Ramparts, Zara .

Carving on Right Jamb of West Door, Cathedral, Trau

Interior of the Cathedral, Trau

Door of the " Atrio Rotondo," Palace of Diocletian

Spalato

Interior of the Cathedral, Spalato

Panel from Guvina's Doors of the Cathedral, Spalato

Stall-backs in Choir, Cathedral, Spalato .

A Morlacco Family, between Salona and Clissa

Travelling at ease : among the Islands

Herzegovinian Charcoal Porter, Gravosa .

Frontispiece
Facing page 36

113

116

163

173

176
178
184
186
205
272
276

294
296
299
300
314
329
334

Xll

ILLUSTRATIONS

Reliquary of the Head of S. Blaise, Cathedral

Treasury, Ragusa

Cloister of the Dominican Convent, Ragusa
Lavabo in Sacristy of Franciscan Convent, Ragusa
Loggia of Rector's Palace, Ragusa
Capital from the Loggia, Rector's Palace, Ragusa
iEsculapius Capital, Rector's Palace, Ragusa .
Fountain of Onofrio di La Cava, Ragusa .
Reliquary of the Head of S. Trifone, Cattaro .
Albanian Horse-dealers, Cattaro

Facing page 343

349
353
354
355
356
357
384
388

II. FULL-PAGE LINE DRAWINGS

Narthex of the Cathedral, Aquileia .

A Corner in Grado

The Patriarch's Throne, Cathedral, Grado
Choir-screen and Ambo, Muggia Vecchia .
The " Fontico " and S. Giacomo, Capodistria .
The Piazza da Ponte, Capodistria
The Inner Harbour, Pirano ....
Opus Sectile in the Apse, Cathedral, Parenzo .
The Atrium and Western Facade, Cathedral, Parenzo
View across the Nave, Cathedral, Parenzo
An Istrian Farm-house

Interior of the Basilica, San Lorenzo

Entrance to the Castle, Pisino .

An Angle of the Castle, San Vincenti

Arch of the Sergii, Pola .

The Amphitheatre, Pola .

West Doorway, S. Francesco, Pola

Interior of the Cathedral, Veglia

In the Harbour, Besca Nova

The Main Street, Besca Nova .

Lussin Grande . . .

West Door of the Colleggiata, Ossero

The Landing-place, Arbe .

The Porta Marina, Zara .

in Pasenatico

42
46
81
90
92

94
114
119
121
133
134
137
*39
145
146

154
171

175
177
181
183
193
207

ILLUSTRATIONS

Xlll

North Door of Western Facade, Cathedral, Zara

Apse of S. Crisogono, Zara

Entrance to the Town of Nona .

Eastern End of Cathedral, Sebenico .

Late Venetian-Gothic Doorway, Sebenico .

South-east Portion of Choir, Cathedral, Sebenico

Belfry of Greek Church, Sebenico

The Porta Marina and Custom House, Trau

The Porta S. Giovanni, Trau

A Decayed Palace, Trau ....

The Quay, Castel Vecchio ....

The Porta Aurea, Spalato ....

Italian Fruit and Vegetable Boats, Spalato

Cloister of S. Francesco, Spalato

Osteria at Salona

Basilica of the Christian Cemetery, Salona

Porta Pile, Ragusa

Torre Menze and Fort S. Lorenzo, Ragusa

La Sponza and Onofrio's Fountain, Ragusa

The Ruined Bastion, Castelnuovo, Bocche di Cattaro

Dobrota, Bocche di Cattaro

Ciborium of S. Trifone, Cattaro .

S. Luka, Cattaro

The Scuola Nautica, Cattaro

Facing page 220
230

239
248

253
254
257
265
266
282
287
293
303
305
310
312
336

337
359
373

378
383
385
386

III. LINE DRAWINGS IN TEXT

Knocker of the Rector's Palace, Ragusa .
Antique Statue in the Museum, Aquileia .
Figure of S. Giusto, Campanile of the Cathedral, Trieste

Arco di Riccardo, Trieste

West End of the Church, Muggia Vecchia
Knocker on Palazzo Tacco, Capodistria .
Greek Benedict ional Cross, Parenzo .
Sarcophagus of S. Eufemia, Rovigno
Wayside Chapel outside San Vincenti
Stall on the Wine-quay, Fiume ....

On Title
page 37

63
65

91
117
130

140

164

xiv ILLUSTRATIONS

Veglia, showing the Castle Towers ....
Reliquary of the Head of Sant Christopher . .

Arbe, from the Shore

Morlacco Girl, Zara .

Going to Market, Zara

Altar of Sant' Anastasia, Zara

Reliquary of Sant' Orontius, Zara ....
Reliquary of the Clothes of Our Lord, S. Maria Nuova,

Zara

Costume of Sebenico .......

Late Gothic Lintel at Trau

A Quaint Costume, Trau

Reliquaries and Chalice, Treasury, Spalato Cathedral
Morse in the Treasury, Spalato Cathedral

Porta Maggiore, Lesina

West Door of the Cathedral, Curzola ....
Head Reliquary in Cathedral, Ragusa
Reliquary of the Jaw of S. Stephen of Hungary

A Corner of the Walls, Cattaro

Montenegrins in the Market, Cattaro
Early Greek Ship, from Millingen's Vases

page

172

I96

203

212

213

225

226

234

257

283

286

297

298

319

326

345

346

388

392

Tailpiece

IV. PLANS AND SECTIONS

Plan of the Cathedral, Aquileia

Plan of the Cathedral, Trieste .

Plan of Pulpit, Muggia Vecchia

Plan of the Three Basilicas, Parenzo .

Plan of S. Maria Formosa, Pola

Plans of S. Donato, Zara ....

Plans and Section of S. Lorenzo, Zara . Between pages 216

Plan of Foundations discovered on the Riva Nuova,

Zara

Plan of the Cathedral, Zara
Plan of Cathedral Crypt, Zara .
Plan of S. Nicold, Nona . .
Plan and Sections, S. Barbara, Trau

page

109
I48

and

214
217

page

218

223

224

242

268

ILLUSTRATIONS xv

Plan of the Cathedral, Trau

Plan of Cathedral and Campanile, Spalato
Plan of the Dominican Convent, Ragusa .
Plan and Elevation of one Bay of Cloister, Dominican

Convent, Ragusa

Plan of La Sponza, Ragusa

Plan of the Cathedral, Cattaro

Map of Istria and Dalmatia ....

page

271

• >>

295
348

352
358
38i

At end of book

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER

The two shores of the Adriatic are totally different
in their natural characteristics ; the western being
almost islandless and destitute of harbours, while the
eastern is fringed by an almost continuous chain of
islands and possesses several magnificent harbours
which communicate with the open sea by narrow
channels easily fortified, the rocks rising precipitously
from the water along the greater part of the coast,
whereas on the Italian side there is an equally con-
tinuous strip of alluvial plain between the foothills and
the sea.

The Adriatic was once bounded by a kind of ridge
stretching from Monte Gargano to Albania. North of
this line the depth is much less than in the Ionian Sea.
When the surface of the earth sank, the Dalmatian
islands were formed by the letting in of the sea. The
depth near Parenzo is about 120 ft. ; in the Quarnero,
near Fiume, 195 ft. ; between Cherso and Arbe, 335 ft. ;
and south-west of the island Zuri (some 24 miles from
the mainland), about 700 ft. Depths as great as 335 ft.
to 490 ft. are, however, not very common within nine
miles of the mainland. In the Bocche di Cattaro the
depth near the mouth is 165 ft., but half a mile west of
the Punta d'Ostro, 335 ft. North of the line from
Monte Gargano to Pelagosa, Cazza, and Curzola it is
never as much as 780 ft. ; south-east of this line the

2 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER

bottom sinks so much that between Cattaro and
Brindisi it reaches a depth of over 5,000 ft. The tide is
scarcely perceptible, and the currents are very slight.
The land is still sinking, as is proved by the Roman
sarcophagi found beneath the water at Vranjic and the
submerged roads between Aquileia and Grado ; while
there are records of the destruction of ancient towns
from sudden subsidences, as that of Cissa, near Rovigno.
The subsidence has been calculated as about a yard in
1,000 years. Cluverius proves from Ptolemy that in
antiquity the name Adriatic only applied to that part
of the gulf which lay to the north of a line between
Monte Gargano and Durazzo. A passage of Strabo,
describing the people of Epirus, runs : " The Adriatic
being ended, the Ionian commences, the first shore of
which is in the neighbourhood of Epidamnus and Apol-
lonia." When Venice conquered Durazzo the limits of
the Adriatic were extended, and it was thenceforth
called the Gulf of Venice. In 1859 tne almost incredible
fact is recorded that it was frozen for several days !

The Austrian provinces which lie along the coast
are, commencing at the north, the Kiistenlande, Istria,
and Dalmatia. In the first the Julian Alps form a
great boundary wall to the plain of the Isonzo, from
which the ground rises between Monfalcone and Na-
bresina to the stony district of the Karst. The Istrian
ranges are spurs from this lofty plateau, the chain cul-
minating in Monte Maggiore, north-west of Fiume. All
these heights belong to the Julian Alps. Beyond
Fiume, southwards, there are three principal mountain
chains, all of which have much the same formation of
limestone, pale brownish or grey in colour, with fossils
and streaks of other colours. The first is the Dinaric
Alps or Velebits, a continuation of the Julian Alps.
These separate Dalmatia from Bosnia as far as Imoschi,
where they enter Herzegovina, finally joining the Monte-

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LAND 3

negrin chain. The chain of the shore commences on
the left bank of the Kerka and extends to the Narenta,
which cuts it. It runs as far as Trebinje, beyond
the river. The Montenegrin mountains, which are so
impressive above the Bocche di Cattaro, joining with
those of the Herzegovina, make the third chain. The
islands and rocks in the sea appear to be submarine
branches of the littoral chain ; the strata lie in the same
direction — in the North Dalmatian islands to the north-
west, in the Southern to the west. On the peninsula
of Sabbioncello they lie partly in one and partly in the
other direction. The former connection between the
islands and the mainland is proved by the remains of
rhinoceros, horse, and stag in the diluvial bone breccias
of Lesina, and the survival of the jackal in Giuppana,
Curzola, and Sabbioncello. Geologists hold that the
deeply cut bays of Sabbioncello and Gravosa, as well
as of the Bocche di Cattaro, and the step-shaped sink-
ings of the northern and eastern limestone mountains
towards the Adriatic basin are signs of the tearing away
of the islands from the mainland, perhaps through the'
destruction of the permeable strata.

These generally show in their forms the craggy and
stony character of the Dinaric Alps, rising perpendicu-
larly from the water on the side of the prevailing wind,
and without vegetation. On the other side are softer
hills and plains with southern vegetation, the aromatic
scents from which are carried by the breeze. There are
about twenty large islands, some of which are over 30
miles long ; but the number may be raised to a hundred
by counting in the small ones. They are generally in
groups or chains, though some are isolated. The water
is generally deep up to the shore, so there are very few
sandbanks.

The greater portion of the naked surface of the land
is formed of limestone and dolomites, which are closely

4 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER

related : there are also, on the lower levels, grey or red
sands, among which schistous loams of uniform colour
predominate. These two formations stretch from one
end of the province to the other in sloping beds. They
are interrupted here and there by loam and schistous
clay and horizontal beds of a kind of limestone : below
these are lignites and chalky limestone, in which shells
are found belonging to a later formation. The oldest
formations are the volcanic mountains near Knin and
on Lissa. Next follow the trias strata, as under the
Velebits and westwards from Sinj, then the sandstone
beds, the different eocene beds and alluvial strata, as in
the plain of Dernis, north of the Vrana Lake, by Nona
and Imoski. The principal characteristic of the Karst
district (to which Dalmatia belongs geologically) is the
way the water flows, sometimes above, sometimes under
ground. Where the woods were cut down to supply the
Romans and Venetians with material for constructing
their fleets, and where natural afforestation has been
stopped by the feeding of sheep and goats, the red earth
has either been washed away by the rains or blown
away by the winds, so that it is only in the hollows that
cultivation can be carried on.

The bitter north wind, the Bora, is the curse of the
district. In the island of Arbe it sometimes blows even
in June and July, stripping the vineyards as if hundreds
of men had been at work, and carrying the salt spray
all over the island, to the great detriment of vegetation.
It is sometimes strong enough to upset pedestrians, and
it is said that if it were not for it, there would be neither
winter nor cold in the Dalmatian littoral. On the
heights winter begins in November and lasts till April,
with heavy snowfalls ; but on the coast spring begins
in February, and winter only at the beginning of
December. The summer, which commences in May, is
usually rainless, with the heat tempered by sea-breezes,

TREES AND FLOWERS 5

though at the end of August heavy rains commence, and
in autumn the frequent changes of temperature are
dangerous. The flora consists of nearly 2,500 species,
described by Visiani in his " Flora Dalmatica." The
aquatic flora contains nearly 700 varieties, many of
theseaweeds being exclusively Dalmatian. Views on the
coast of Ragusa, or at Castelnuovo, in the Bocche, re-
semble those of Sardinia and Sicily. On one side may
be seen green meadows, fruit trees, flowing water, corn-
fields, beechwoods, &c. ; on the other, olive groves,
thickets of arbutus, hedge plants the height of a tree,
myrtles, and bay ; on the naked rock aloes grow and the
opuntia ; in gardens, dwarf and date-palms, unprotected
cycas revoluta, and orange and lemon trees ; and wide
valleys are filled with lofty carob trees — so close are the
boundaries between the flora of middle Europe and of
the Mediterranean. Almonds flower in December, and
peas and beans are often gathered at Christmas. At
Cannosa the date-palm ripens its fruit, and flowers are
always to be seen. The Euphorbia Dendroides grows
as high as in Crete, and rosemary bushes are frequently
up to the shoulder of a man. In August the Syrian
hibiscus is violet-red and the scarlet-red arbutus fruit
hangs till Christmas. On Monte Marjan, near Spalato,
where Diocletian had his parks, the sheltered aspect
creates a tropical climate. Wild aloes grow 6 ft. high,
and in midwinter numbers of field flowers may be
picked as if it were spring.

THE RACES AND THEIR CUSTOMS

The people of Istria and Dalmatia are a very mixed
race, as might be expected from the history of the
countries. On these shores and islands were Greek
colonies and Roman municipia, which have left their
trace in the names of places and families. Greek
colonies were at Issa (Lissa), Pharia (Lesina), Epetium
(Stobrec), Tragurium (Trau), Melita (Meleda), Corcyra
(Curzola), Buta (Budua), and Ambrachia (Brazza), to
name some of those which have survived as towns to the
present day. Roman family names occur especially
round Spalato, such as Lutia (Lucio), Caepia (Cippico),
Valeria (Valeri), Junia(Giunio), Coceia (Coceich), Marcia
(Marce), Cassia (Cassio), Caelia (Celio), and Statilia
(Statileo). Byzantine names testify to the rule of Byzan-
tium, such asPaleologo, Lascaris, Andronico, Grisogono,
Catacumano. In Istria there is a considerable admixture
of German blood ; on the rocks of Zara the Crusaders
abandoned sick Frenchmen ; whilst thither and to
Spalato also came Ghibellines in exile. Franks, Croats,
Bosniaks, Hungarians, Genoese, Neapolitans, and above
all, Venetians have held sway over portions of the coast
at different times. Families of Hungarian and Bosnian
gentlemen established the free commune of Poglizza ;
exiles from Spain, Jews, for the most part driven out in
1492, established themselves at Spalato and Ragusa ;
Lombards descended upon the coasts and islands ;

SURVIVALS OF DIFFERENT RACES 7

and Venetians commenced to establish themselves in
Dalmatia in the eleventh century, Istria coming even
earlier more or less under their influence. In 1552,
in the Council of Zara, out of seventeen noble families
more than two-thirds were of Italian descent ; and at
Lesina the proportion was even greater. At Zara the
Italians still preponderate, but the Slav element is in
the majority in the greater part of Dalmatia, and even
in the country parts of Istria. There are also many
French, Hungarians, Bosniaks, Herzegovinians, Ger-
mans, Swiss, and gypsies, the Slav majority increasing
towards the south.

In Istria the present inhabitants may be divided
into Italians, Roumanians, and Slavs : to the last division
belong the Morlacchi, the Tschitsches, Slovens, and
Croats. The Italians are the most intelligent portion of
the population, and are craftsmen, large occupiers of
land, merchants, and sailors. They are the descendants
of those who were subjects of Venice from the fourteenth
century till the fall of the Republic. The Slovens were
in Istria as early as the eighth century, and Paulus
Diaconus mentions them as being near Cividale. Re-
cords exist of Croats raids in the tenth century, whilst
further south there were two great immigrations — the
first, in the seventh century, by the "Belocroats," called
by Porphyrogenitus, Croats, from the banks of the
Elbe, descendants of whom may to-day be found in the
islands ; and the second, in the fourteenth century, by
the people of Rascia, who now inhabit much of the
interior and are known as " Morlacchi,' ' a name derived
from the Slav " Mauro vlach," the black Wallachs.

According to Lucio, who refers to William of Tyre,
all Dalmatians used the Roman language until 1200.
After the Croats came down, the name of " Dalmatian/'
strictly speaking, belonged only to the cities of Zara,
Trau, Spalato, and Ragusa, to the western islands of

8 THE RACES AND THEIR CUSTOMS

Dalmatia, and to Lissa and Lagosta — Eastern Dal-
matia was a Servian province ; Western, a Croatian. It
is known that Slavs came in 1463 to Salvore, in 1526 to
the district of Rovigno, in 1549 t° *ne district of Citta-
nova, Montona, Parenzo, and Pola, in 1595 to Fontane,
in 1624 and 1634 (the plague years) to Fillipano, 1647
to near Pola, and 1650 to Peroi, near Fasano. Those
now there came from the Bocche and Montenegro,
settled in 1658-1659 by Doge Giovanni Pesaro, after
the great plague. The women still wear the ancient
costume. The Slavs are most numerous between
Dragogna and Trieste. Procopius gives an interesting
description of them worth quoting : " The two nations
of the Autars and the Slavs know no monarchical
government ; but from ancient times live freely in
common fashion. They take all questions of great
importance or difficulty to a common national council.
The customs of the two nations are alike in every-
thing else. These barbarians believe, by an article of
faith transmitted from their ancestors, that, among
many, there is one sole master of all things, whom they
look upon as the author of the thunder ; and to him
they sacrifice bulls and other victims. They do not
know what the goddess Fortune may be, nor believe
that she has any influence on human affairs. When
they feel themselves threatened by death, either by ill-
ness or wounds given in battle, they are told to promise
a sacrifice to God if they escape the danger. Then, if
they soon get about again, they fulfil the vow, firmly
persuaded that by it they have recovered their health.
They offer worship to woods, to nymphs, and other
genii, immolating victims to them, and prophesying in
the act. They live in rough huts far away from each
other, and often change the situation. The greater
part of them fight on foot, armed with shield and with
darts, but without corslet. Some of them do not wear

PROCOPIUS ON THE SLAVS 9

their ordinary clothes in battle, but draperies which
scarcely reach to the thigh, and so they present them-
selves to the enemy. They all speak the same bar-
barous tongue, nor differ much in appearance, but are all
tall and powerful. The colour of the flesh and the
hair is neither vermilion nor brown, but reddish.
They live a somewhat fatiguing life, somewhat neglected
and uncultivated, like the Massagetae, and, like them, on
sordid food. They are not cunning, nor evildoers, but
follow the customs of the Huns in sacking and rapine.
They possess vast lands and occupy the greater part of
the further bank of the Danube." They have retained
many characteristics of an earlier age, though not of the
period of Procopius.

The men are tall and muscular, with strongly
marked features. Their eyes are generally either grey
or blue, the forehead broad and prominent, the teeth
white and strong, the hair sometimes blonde, but rang-
ing through all shades to black, and the countenance
intelligent and expressive. The boys herd the flocks
barefoot and half naked, so that their skin is always
bronzed, and the men generally have bare breasts.
Their sight and hearing are remarkably keen, and in
Dalmatia they can make themselves heard from one
hill to another, a feat which is partly owing to the
quality of the air. Their excellent health enables them
to support all kinds of hardships ; they sleep out of
doors (covering the head), except in winter, at which
season they stay a good deal by the fire, though they
may be seen in the city with icicles on their hairy chests.
They have neither stoves, chimneys, nor glass in the
windows. A case of a monk has been recorded, who,
at the age of 105, made watches and read with the
naked eye, ate and drank, walked and " wept " like
a boy of twenty. The costume is distinctive and, with
slight variations, is worn throughout Dalmatia. In

io THE RACES AND THEIR CUSTOMS

Istria there are considerable differences both in colour
and form. " The Morlacco in full dress has on his head
the kapa, a cap of scarlet cloth, with black embroidery
on the border and hanging fringe on one side ; in some
districts bordering on Bosnia a rich band of silk or
coloured wools is twisted round it. Over the skirt of
rough linen (the kosulja), open to show the breast, is the
krozet, a waistcoat crossed on the breast with flat
buttons of silver, or tin, and embroidery ; it is bound
to the sides with a girdle (pas) made of red strings.
The trousers (benevrechi) are of a coarse blue cloth fitting
to the legs and very tight at the calf, below which
they are split up and fastened by sponje, copper or
silver hooks. The stockings (nazubei) are of wool of
various patterns. The shoes (opanci) have a sole of ox-
leather and uppers of strips of dried sheeps' skin (opute) :
a longer oputa passes several times round the ankle and
holds the shoe firm ; it turns up at the toe and looks quite
Oriental. Instead of the krozet, or over it, some wear the
jacerma, a sleeveless red cloth jacket, covered in front
with little discs of tin (siliki), or large balls of silver (toke),
or by rows of coins. And over the pas they have the
pasnjaca, a band of red leather covering part of the
abdomen, with various divisions, in which they used to
carry their rich arms, pistols, knives, &c., now filled with
the pipe, pipe-cleaner, britva, a very small scimitar with
a bone handle, and a small knife in a sheath. Finally,
there is the koporan, a jacket with sleeves of blue cloth,
with embroidery on the elbows and back ; but few
Morlacchi wear it.

" The women have a large handkerchief (jacmak) on
their heads, embroidered on the borders ; instead of the
kosulja, or above it, they have the oplece — that is, the
coverer of the shoulders ; it is closed at the neck, em-
broidered on the breast, and on the ample sleeves also.
Round the neck is the gerdan, several strings of glass

COSTUME OF THE MORLACCHI n

beads of different colours ; it is bound at the stomach
by the litar, a long band of leather a couple of inches
wide covered with little tin discs and very heavy. From
the litar hang the britva and a lot of keys, by chains,
which are sometimes costly. The gown (vustan) is of
blue cloth, but in summer of linen, reaching to the
middle of the calf. The apron (prejaca, or, in Venetian,
travesa) is always a chef-d'oeuvre of workmanship, which
the Morlacca thinks a deal of. The footwear is com-
posed of three parts : bicve, of blue cloth reaching up to
the knee, tightly laced up with little hooks, and finishing
at the ankle in a ring ; over them the true stockings
(nazubei)oi rough wool, with patternsin vivid colours and
opanci, or filare, like the men's. The girl does not have
the litar ; on her head is no jacmak, but a red cloth cap,
sparkling with antique or modern coins of silver, and
occasionally of gold. In some places the girl has on her
bosom the gendar, several rows of coins which hang
from the neck, sometimes below the stomach, tinkling
at every step ; this is her dowry, and sometimes worth as
much as £50. When she is married she puts off the
gendar and sparkling kapa. The men used to have a
pigtail, of which they were very proud. The wife used
to comb it twice a month, anoint it with butter, and tie
up the end with ribbons and amulets. It was the only
time when a Morlacco addressed his wife affectionately.
In barracks and in prison the hair is cut, so the pigtail
is rarely seen now. To complete the toilet the torba
zndtorbak must be mentioned : the first of red wool, with
embroidery, worn by both men and women on the back,
laced round the shoulders ; the second generally of skin,
worn only by the men, and hanging crosswise by a
broad band of leather on the left hip."

I have given this detailed description of the costume
(quoted from Signor Modrich's " Dalmazia"), thinking
it would be of interest; but descriptions of the costumes

12 THE RACES AND THEIR CUSTOMS

as they appear to the ordinary traveller will be found in
the sections dealing with the various places on the
coast.

The Dalmatians are very fond of music and are
constantly singing. They have a proverb : " He who
sings thinks not of evil." Tomaseo thought their folk-
songs richer than those of any other nation, ranging
as they do over all manner of subjects. They are
generally heroical or amorous in character, divided
into short verses and sung in two parts ; the bass delivers
a kind of recitative, and the baritone joins in, the long
final note with which each finishes dying away in a full
chord. It is extraordinary how serious the men are
over it, even when singing over their wine, in which
they sometimes exceed. At Trau one Sunday afternoon
we saw a party of eight or ten sitting round a table in
a cafe as serious as if at a funeral, with wine before them,
and enjoying their melancholy music. On this occa-
sion the alto part was flat, and the effect was not as good
as it is out of doors. Later we came across more than
one group of four, standing where two streets met, and
singing without looking at each other. In the narrow
ancient streets the notes sounded quite in character
with the surroundings and with the quaint dresses of
the singers. Modrich says that they use the svirala, a
kind of bagpipe with two canes, one with four and the
other with three holes, and suggests that the long-
drawn terminating notes of the songs are in imitation of
its sound ; but we neither saw nor heard this instrument,
all the singing being unaccompanied. The principal
occupations of the people are agriculture, cattle-raising,
and fishing, or sea-faring. They are exceedingly re-
ligious, devoted to church and priest, and observe the
great festivals with feasting and rejoicing, and with
ceremonies many of which are evidently survivals of
heathen observances. The greatest festival is Christ-

CUSTOMS OF THE MORLACCHI 13

mas. In preparation all clothes are washed and
mended, house and yard cleaned, and better and richer
food than they usually have is provided. On the Eve
they work hard ; before sunrise house and yard are
decked with bay or olive branches or some other ever-
green, which they think protects from lightning. On
this day the sun, which the ancient Slavs worshipped,
woke from sleep, as one may say, and the days began
to lengthen perceptibly.

The father of the sun was Perun, the thunder-god.
To this god the oak was dedicated. In the folk-songs
he is replaced by S. Elias, and to this day a great log of
oak is placed on the fire on Christmas Eve, and kindled
for the preparation of the evening meal. It burns all
night and the whole of the following day, and in many
places is kept smouldering for eight days. The customs
observed are as follows. The head of the family bares
his head and says : " Blessed be thou, O log ; God
preserve thee ! " and sprinkles wine upon it crosswise.
Then corn is thrown over it, and he invokes every
blessing from heaven for the health of those belonging
to the house, present or absent, for the success of do-
mestic undertakings, and for the harvest, to which the
others present reply " Amen," fire off guns in sign of joy,
and say : " Welcome to the evening of the log." Then
they sit down to table in the kitchen, even if other
rooms are available, which suggests a survival of the
practice of eating by the ancient family altar, the
hearth. In the centre of the table are three candles
twisted together in honour of the Trinity, lighted, and
stuck into a great loaf ornamented with ivy. This loaf
is afterwards broken up and given to the sheep and
cows when bringing forth, or when sick. A little of
every kind of food is thrown on to the burning log. If
there are three logs (as in some places), the right-hand
one must be the biggest — the Father, the Son to the left,

14 THE RACES AND THEIR CUSTOMS

and the Spirit in the middle, the aspersion being made in
this order. Boccaccio, in the "Genealogy of the Gods,"
refers to a similar custom in his day in Florence, evi-
dently the survival, or transmutation, of some heathen
rite. After supper the hymn " Es wurde geboren der
Himmels Konig von der unbefleckten Jungfrau Maria "
is sung, and then the young people usually play Christ-
mas games. Little houses are made of flour or bran,
with a piece of money in one, which belongs to the per-
son who selects that house. On Christmas Day they
visit neighbours and relations, married daughters come
with husband and children to the midday meal, bringing
two loaves — one of finer quality for the mother, one of
the usual kind as big as possible for the father. During
the octave groups of young people (and sometimes of
men also) go singing carols from house to house, and are
rewarded with money and wine in return for wishing
the donors a rich wine, olive, and fruit crop. On New
Year's Day the three tapers of Christmas Eve are re-
lighted. Before drinking at the meal the head of the
house uses the following formula : "I wish you a good
New Year ; may you enjoy it in health and happiness,
neither offend God, nor lose your soul, but have every
tender joy and celestial glory.' ' Then he drinks in un-
diluted wine three times, and blesses those present in the
name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, and pours the
remainder of the wine on the candles to extinguish
them. If by chance one remains alight it is considered
an augury of long life to the person in front of whom it
stands. The holy water of the Vigil of the Epiphany,
called " water of the Three Kings," and used by the
priests to bless every dwelling, is preserved to sprinkle
the fields and the sick also, and is thought to be specific
against the temptations of the devil at the hour of
death. It is said to remain uncorrupted for as long as
twenty-five years. Children go about on New Year's

EPIPHANY, LENT AND EASTER 15

Day with a branch of rosemary stuck in an apple in
which are kreuzer or ten-kreuzer pieces, wishing good
fortune and collecting gifts. In Trieste and some of
the Istrian towns, girls andboys go about throughout the
octave of Epiphany with little lanterns, kneel on the
steps of the houses, sing a song in honour of the three
Holy Kings, and then, knocking, ask for money. The
song tells how Christ was born poor, lived poor, and
died on the Cross, and then goes on to wish friendly
donors as many angels to take them to heaven as a
sieve has holes ; for the hard-hearted as many devils to
take them as nails stuck in the door ! In some neigh-
bourhoods children are taken into the vineyards on
Innocents' Day, when they strike the vines with
switches and sing : " Bear, bear fruit, pretty vine, else
will I cut thy head off."

Great preparations are made for Easter, when young
lambs and turkeys are slain, which the folk-songs tell
us used to be offered to the sun-god. Roasted lamb,
cooked eggs, cheese, and bread and salt are carried
early to the church to be blessed by the priest. When
the bearers return, the table is blessed by the head of
the family, and God thanked for the well-completed
Lenten fast, after which they sit cheerfully down to
their meal, burning all fragments left, since the food has
been blessed, and taking care not to let anything fall to
the ground. In Lent, and during other fasts, they eat
neither flesh nor eggs, nor any kind of milk food. They
have a saying that it is less culpable to kill a person in
vendetta than to eat rich food in Lent. S. John the Bap-
tist's Day is one of their principal feasts. On the Eve
the shepherds light fires on all the hills. On the morn-
ing they swim for the first time in the year, or wash from
head to foot, and also wash all their animals. The girls
and boys make garlands of flowers and broom, set them
on their heads, and dance " with devotional joy." This

16 THE RACES AND THEIR CUSTOMS

is no doubt part of the ancient heathen festival of mid-
summer. Another festival which has nothing to do
with the Church is the " Fasching " or " Pust,'' on
Monday during Carnival. Groups of masked male
dancers go through the villages with horns on their
heads, or with bells at their girdles weighing several
pounds, in one hand a strong stick, in the other a bag of
ashes. They dance, jest, fight with other bands, and
throw ashes over the women and children who run
away. One of them generally carries a clothed figure
like a man — the " Pust" — which next day, or on Ash
Wednesday, is burnt or buried. This is a relic of the
heathen custom of destroying Morana or Mora, the
goddess of night, of darkness, winter, and death, who,
the country-folk say, sits on men at night and drinks
their blood, and of Mrak (twilight), her helper, who
brings little children to her by twilight. The priest,
who used to be an oracle to his flock, was asked first to
every festivity, and consulted in every difficulty. " The
priest says so " put an end to all questioning. With
their religious feeling, superstition goes hand in hand.
They believe in vampires, nightmares, witches, and
" Vilen." The vampire is an evil spirit which appears
by night to frighten men, in the guise of a lately dead
man or woman " who had not lived piously.' ' It is
a human skin filled with blood, covered with a shroud,
and shows itself at crossways and on bridges, in caves
and graveyards, but also rattles window-shutters and
throws down tiles from the roof. It is not safe to call
to it ; if it reaches out to any one three times that is
taken as a sign that it is a good spirit from purgatory
asking for help. For protection a thorn-stick is carried,
with which the vampire is thrust through. The " Alp "
(the nightmare) is an evil old maid who sits on the back
or breast of sleepers, holds their hands and feet, and
stops their mouth so that they cannot cry for help";

MORLACCO SUPERSTITIONS 17

therefore they never sleep on the back, but on the right
side, and keep near the bed an open bottle-gourd, of
which the " Alp " or " Mora " is afraid. It generally
wears a white dress and black bodice, with a white veil
over loose hair. Witches only appear in bad weather,
and hold their assemblies under walnut-trees or on cer-
tain hills. Excessive hail is supposed to be their work.
They can be killed by firing with three grains of corn
and the Paschal wax-candle at the lightning before the
thunder sounds. If this can be done, the witch dies.
" Vilen " are maidens with horses' hoofs. They are
found in caves and collect in woods, at the sources of
streams or springs. The name comes from the Slav
" bijela," the white ; they are not regarded as evil
spirits. In the neighbourhood of Spalato they think
that new-born children, if strong and handsome, are
likely to be taken away by " Vilen," and therefore
watch the infants most carefully till they are baptized.
These maidens busy themselves with rope-making,
spinning, and gold and silver embroidery, and have the
power of changing stones and coal to gold and silver.
In summer, when hail falls on the vineyards, peasants
may still be seen to turn to the black clouds and throw
up salt and shredded garlic. It is said that the devil
can be seen if one stand at the church door in such
weather with a priest, treading with the right foot upon
the priest's right. He is like a great dragon spreading
his claws and reaching to the upper clouds from the
earth ; but the priests never allow the trial, for fear the
man should die of fright at the sight. This reminds one
of the Chinese and Japanese storm-dragon.

The peasants practise astrology to find lucky times
to commence undertakings. Falling stars are con-
sidered to be the opening of heaven, and anything asked
for at that moment will be granted. Thunders are the
rumbling which S. Elias makes with his car. Amulets

18 THE RACES AND THEIR CUSTOMS

are worn, especially near the Turkish border. It is
considered lucky to spill wine on oneself. To meet a
snake, a viper in the house, or a centipede crawling over
the walls is also lucky. On the other hand, misfortune
attends crackling wood, the birth of black lambs, the
entering a house left foot first, sitting at table seven or
thirteen in number, giving drink with the left hand,
spilling oil or salt, and leaving two rods or knife and
spoon crosswise. A crowing hen means domestic mis-
fortune— she must be killed to avoid it ; and the baying
of a dog or hooting of an owl at night imports the death
of a neighbour. Their customs are patriarchal. The
father has full authority over his sons, and their wives
are merely fresh daughters of the house. Every boy is
held to be worth more than the women, from the age of
eight, and girls and women who meet a man are ex-
pected to salute him. In some places, in the middle of
the last century, this salutation was accompanied with
a kiss. The oldest man in the house (stareshina) was
the only one who could leave anything by will. He
said prayers morning and evening, blessed the table,
welcomed the guests, sat with them at table, and hur-
ried the service of his family. He arranged the work of
each member of the household, carried on all com-
mercial transactions, and disposed of the results as he
pleased. If he found the duties too heavy for him he
transferred the responsibility to some other male
member. The stopanjica (the mistress) was the direc-
tress of the house, and the other women worked under
her orders. These people are exceedingly honest, and in
some of the villages no locks are to be found either on
door or chest.

They have a ceremony by which two persons swear
friendship before the altar, and are then called half-
brothers or half-sisters. At one time the usage was also
practised between persons of different sex. They are

MORLACCO CUSTOMS 19

also tenacious in prosecuting a vendetta, and, till about
seventy years ago, there was but one way in which a
blood feud could be extinguished. It was called the
Karvarina, or price of blood, and its acceptance was
preceded by several very curious ceremonies. The re-
lations dipped the murdered man's shirt in his blood,
and kept it till he was avenged, or the price of blood was
arranged. The family of the murderer asked for a truce
of several weeks, and sent a solemn embassy of twelve
young women with their babies. Arrived at the house,
the babies were put down, and the women wept, asking
for peace and pity in the name of S. John the Baptist,
and the putting away of anger for pity of the little ones.
After a time the people of the house picked up the chil-
dren and promised to bring to the font twelve of their
children yet unborn to be attendants at the marriage of
as many girls, and gave the mothers a piece of silver,
a veil, and a cloth in sign of peace. Then the relations
of the slain chose twenty-four judges, who were en-
treated by the other side to serve, and could not refuse,
nor might they receive payment. To the preliminaries
of the judgment on the appointed day the " dance of
blood " succeeded. The criminal, with joined hands,
and with the fatal sword at his neck, extricated himself
from the slow, melancholy dance, and cried three times :
" Pardon ! " The nearest relation ordered the principal
judge to drive him ignominiously away. The judge
obeyed, and struck him to the earth with his foot, but as
soon as his forehead touched the ground he turned and
cried again : " In the Name of God, pardon me ! " The
dancing stopped, and the dancers burst into tears. The
embittered relative of the murdered man went to him,
raised him, embraced him, and kissed him on the fore-
head, and, turning to the rest, cried out : " This man has
been my enemy hitherto, but shall be my friend — my
brother — henceforward, to me and to you all also, and

20 THE RACES AND THEIR CUSTOMS

to any who were blood-relations of our dear friend who
was killed," and then broke a silver coin in two, giving
him one half. Then the oldest of the judges read the
sentence imposing the price of blood, from 50 to 140
zecchins of gold. Part of the money went to the Church,
a third to the expenses of the judgment, and the rest to
the family, who generally applied it to some pious use.
Marriage customs vary slightly. About Pola and
Parenzo the country people make a great display, and
go through ceremonies pointing to the capture or pur-
chase of the bride. The cortege is headed by a standard-
bearer, an unmarried relation, carrying a linen flag of
different colours, and on it a wheel-shaped loaf with a
great apple on the point of a long pole. The guests
knock loudly at the door : after a time a voice asks who
they are and what they want. The oldest man answers:
"A rose out of the garden," or " A hind out of the
thicket." After some debate, first an old woman is
brought out, then a younger, then the bridesmaids.
They take them all, but want another — " A barefoot
girl is still there." At last the bride appears. " That
is the right one ; we will take her away," all cry, and the
bride-leader asks for her stockings and fine shoes, which
generally contain a silver coin. These she herself puts
on. The bridegroom gives shoes or some other gift to
the mother and all the home people. Then one of the
guests fires at an apple on a stick fixed to the roof, or on
a tree-top, and it is considered a disgrace to all if he
misses. Now the bride comes down, garlanded and
with one or two apples in her hand, which she throws at
the bridegroom, who tries to cover her with the flag.
Whether struck or not, he picks the apples up, to eat
with his bride after the ceremony. Then they go off to
church. Other customs accompany the journey home.
The Morlacchi are very hospitable; if any one
approaches one of their houses they ask him in, and

PROVERBS 21

will not let him go without his tasting bread and wine.
They are exceedingly loyal and devoted to their native
land. They are very fond of proverbs, of which I quote
a few : " The empty sack does not stand upright " ;
" Penitence does not make the madman well again " ;
" If you will not be a thief I will not watch " ; " You
can't shut out the sun with the palm of your hand" ;
" Be married by your ears and not your eyes " ; " There
is most milk in other people's cows " ; " He who cries
most loudly works the least " ; " Promises console the
foolish" ; " He who has been bitten by a viper fears
the lizard" ; "The wolf changes his skin, but not his
habits"; " As the mother spins, so the daughter
weaves"; " Horses by their pace, maidens by their
stock."

They are apowerful and a proud race, as the following
story from Fortis shows, and will without doubt leave
their mark on European history when their culture
equals their physical powers; but the present race-
animosity between Croat and Italian is deplorable.
The Croats, being in the majority, are using their power
to oppress the Italian-speaking portion of the popula-
tion. The schools are now all Croat, and the Italians
have no means of instruction for their children in their
own language except at Zara. At Spalato the race-
feeling is especially bitter ; it is the only city in Dal-
matia in which the anniversary of the Italian defeat at
Lissa is feted with display of flags and music by the
municipio. The Italian theatre was burnt down some
years ago, and the Croat majority on the council voted
a large sum of money (stated to have been £60,000) to
build a new Croat theatre to replace it ; and this they
refused to let to Italian companies. But there are no
Croat companies ready to bear the expense of coming to
Spalato, so the theatre remains closed !

The story told by Fortis is as follows : " Venice was

22 THE RACES AND THEIR CUSTOMS

exchanging prisoners-of-war with the Turks, and gave
several Turkish soldiers for each Dalmatian. A deputy
of the Porte observed that this was scarcely fair, to
whom a Morlacco of Sinj replied fiercely : ' Know that
our prince willingly gives many asses for a horse/ "

Ill

AQUILEIA

The city of Aquileia, called by the Greeks Chry-
sopolis, because it was one of the largest and
richest cities of the empire, is now represented by a
cluster of houses, a cathedral, and a museum in which
the greater part of the objects found by excavating are
housed. It is easily reached by carriage from either
Villa Vicentina or Cervignano, a pleasant drive of an
hour or so ; and it gives one some idea of the size of the
ancient city to remember that the whole of the ground
passed over, at least from Villa Vicentina, was originally
included in its suburbs. The city stretched 16 miles
along the shore, but the ground has sunk some five feet,
and much of ancient Aquileia now lies beneath the
lagoon. The inscriptions show that most of the in-
habitants were foreigners. At present the environs are
malarious ; but at the time when the naval station was
established here the climate must have been much
more healthy ; on account, probably, of the great pine-
forest which stretched along the shore, and of which
there are still some small remains towards the Belve-
dere. At that time the Natisone debouched close to
the town, and there was ample anchorage for ships.
In the eleventh century the great port and arsenal were
at Morrano and S. Marco al Belvedere, which were then
still islands. The sea-mouth was between Grado and
S. Pietro d'Oro, where the pharos was.

24 AQUILEIA

The city was founded in 181 B.C., and its name is
said to have originated in the appearance of an eagle
which was seen while the plan was being laid out. It
was the centre from which numerous roads diverged.
Here Vespasian was hailed emperor by his legion. In
238 Maximin and his son were killed beneath its walls.
Alaric besieged it, and Attila destroyed it in 452.
Forty years later Theodoric took the lordship of Italy
from Odoacer on the banks of the Isonzo, and in 552 the
citizens who had returned were again driven away to
the deltas of other rivers by Alboin, who was, it is said,
called from Pannonia by Narses to wreak his vengeance
on the son of Justinian.

Christianity was planted in Aquileia in apostolic
times. According to tradition S. Mark was sent by S.
Peter from Rome to the city, and there wrote or trans-
lated his gospel into Greek. S. Hermagoras, who was
Aquileian by birth, followed him as overseer of the
Church. He was consecrated the first bishop of Italy
in Rome, the diocese ranking next to the Roman see as
being the most ancient after that city. There is no
doubt possible as to the existence of- Christianity here
at the end of the third century. There were churches
in the time of Constantine, and a baptistery as early
as 270, in the days of Aurelian. In Constantinian
times it was a centre of Catholic life. SS. Jerome and
Ambrose lived within its walls, and towards the end
of the fourth century the bishops of Como, Venetia,
Istria, Noricum, Pannonia, and even Augsburg, as some
say, were under Valerian the bishop. Till Carolingian
times the patriarchs were Italians, Greeks, or Friulians ;
but, with the establishment of the Holy Roman Empire,
the patriarchs of Aquileia politically were attached to
it, and were friends of the emperors, who often stayed
in the city on their journeys to and from Italy. All
the names are German from the end of the tenth century

CHRISTIAN AQUILEIA 25

to the middle of the thirteenth. The patriarchate
was exceedingly prosperous under Poppo (1019-1045),
who had been chancellor to Henry II. He moved his
seat back to Aquileia from Cividale, built a fine palace
(of which the two isolated pillars and the ruined
walls to the south of the cathedral remain) and the
existing cathedral, using portions of an earlier one as
material.

As at Parenzo, excavations have revealed the plan
of earlier buildings upon and around the site of the
cathedral. This was the Capitol of the ancient city, and
probably a street ran between the baptistery and the
cathedral. To the north lay the forum and the cattle-
market, as inscriptions prove. The discovery of drains
proves that there were dwelling-houses as well as
temples near ; but the wall of the original city was
just east of the cathedral, and beyond it a branch of
the Natisone flowed, affording additional protection.
The river was canalised and navigable for seven miles.
The piers of a bridge still remain near Monastero.

A large antique building of some kind, perhaps a
prison or courts-of-law, connected with the martyrdom
of SS. Hermagoras and Fortunatus, was used in the con-
struction of the first cathedral, and portions of imperial
work are to be seen in the lower parts of the eastern
wall and the paving of the crypt. The baptistery, which
rises to the west, also is on the base of a heathen temple.
In the year 348 a new church was so far ready that a
great meeting could be held in it, at which the emperors
brother was present, Athanasius tells us. It was
finished in 381, when a council was held in it. The
destruction wrought by Attila appears to have been
complete, for no inscriptions have been found of his
date, nor any Lombard objects, and at the time of the
Lombard invasion the patriarch fled to Grado with all
the church valuables, and moved his seat thither.

26 AQUILEIA

The foundations show that there were two basilicas
side by side, with a narthex common to both and a
passage between them up to the transept. To the
south the narthex terminated in an apse nearly 20 ft.
across, and there was a hall, probably open to the sky,
between the narthex and the baptistery, with others to
the north and south of it. The basilica to the north of
the present cathedral extended under the campanile
and the graveyard, and mosaics of its floor have been
found on two levels, sunken in part by the weight of the
campanile. The lower mosaic has been found over a
space of more than 120 ft., but the excavations could
not be made complete owing to the ground being used
as a cemetery. One pattern is purely geometrical;
another has birds, dogs, hares, baskets of flowers, and
floral scrolls in octagons and squares set diagonally
between them ; both marble and vitreous pastes are
used, as well as gold tesserae. Inscriptions were also
found in letters of the third or beginning of the
fourth century : " ***ore Felix hie crevisti hie Felix "
and " Cyriacus vivas." The former is held to prove
that there was a domestic basilica here at that period.
The bottom of the wall was painted with geometrical
patterns imitating marble plating. The mosaic runs
right under the campanile. There is a door to the south,
and two pillars parallel to the face of the wall, and
one to the left, opposite the north angle. The upper
building has a double row of bases of columns, nine
or ten in number, with an external wall 19 ft. 6 in. from
the present basilica, and with the western wall of the
narthex level with the present narthex, beneath the
piazza. Antique fragments were used in the founda-
tions. The lower part of the wall of the existing
building is of the same materials and thickness, and
probably of the same date. The much simpler mosaic
patterns of the floor are at the same level both inside

REMAINS OF EARLIER BUILDINGS 27

and outside — viz. 2 ft. 9 in. below the present pavement.
Near the round building in the north aisle a fish mosaic
was found on which the sarcophagus of Poppo stood.
Signs of a conflagration — fragments of charcoal, &c. —
were also found on this pavement. The colours used
in the mosaics are white, blue, grey, palish green-grey,
yellow, brown, black, several blues and reds, and two
greens. The finest fragment has a figure of a peacock
with tail displayed, which was in the narthex in front
of the door to the church, and is now in the museum.
On the pavement coins were found, most of which be-
longed to the third and fourth centuries ; but there were
also one Greek coin of Marcianopolis, two so-called
Consular coins, one Augustan, three of the second
century, one Ostrogothic of Ravenna, and several
Aquileian of 1400. In the eighteenth century sar-
cophagi were disinterred bearing fourth-century
crosses, of an earlier date than Attila, at all events.

There appears to have been a restoration in the
sixth century, probably under Narses ; the use of
super-abaci and the caps in the transept suggest this.
Perhaps the council of 557 may have had something to
do with it. Twin basilicas occur elsewhere in Istria,
though they were not always of the same date, as at
Trieste, S. Michele in Monte, Pola, and probably at
Ossero, where the seven-naved basilica of which Mr.
T. G. Jackson gives the plan would be easily explained
by the supposition.

The original east end was square. The semicir-
cular apse within it is of a later date, probably of the
ninth century, of which period there are other remains
— viz. the beautiful slabs of the choir now in the south
transept, with the remains of the bases of the pillars of
the screen above. Two of the patterns are exactly like
some at Muggia Vecchia ; others resemble ornamented
pillars of the door of S. Ambrogio, Milan ; others are

)». * » Gr

PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL, AQUILEIA

THE PRESENT CATHEDRAL 29

very like the fragments preserved at S. Maria in Valle,
Cividale ; whilst a band of interlacings resembles one
which occurs on an Assyrian cylinder, not only in its
forms, but in its irregularities. A piece of antique
fluted pilaster now does duty as a base. The ornament
on the steps of the throne is also of this period, probably
executed under either Paulinus (f8o2) or Maxentius
(1*833) by Comacines, who probably went on to Rome
to work in S. Maria in Cosmedin. The Liber Ponti-
ficalis under Hadrian I. mentions the " tres apsides
in ea constituens " of that church as if they were some-
thing new.

The cathedral was much damaged by the earth-
quake of 998, and Poppo began to rebuild it after the
Lateran Council of 1027 nad declared the see of Aquileia
first in Italy after Rome. It was sufficiently finished in
103 1 for it to be consecrated by him on the festival of
the patron saint (July 13), two Roman cardinal-bishops
and twelve bishops being present, as a later inscription
states. Of this building the greater part remains,
though with considerable alterations and additions
made in the fourteenth century, after the earthquake of
1348, and in the fifteenth century. The twenty columns
of the nave arcade, some of which are granite and some
Istrian limestone, show by their different heights and
thickness that they came from other buildings. Some
of them are in more than one piece. The bases are
Attic of different heights and are of Poppo' s time, as
the caps appear to be also. Two similar caps are in the
churchyard ; and one, hollowed out, is used as a holy-
water basin. Some of the same character were found
at Monastero under another basilica. The central
nave is 39 ft. broad, and the aisles 26 ft. The transept
is about 136 ft. long, with an apse 32 ft. 6 in. broad
opening from it, 21 ft. deep. The exterior length of the
building is 218 ft. The round arches from the aisles

30 AQUILEIA

to the transepts are older than the nave arcade. The
columns are antique ; that on the south has also a
Corinthian cap, but the base is Romanesque. The
base of the northern column is a shapeless block ; the
cap is like those of the nave, but the super-abacus
is plain. Across the transepts two round arches are
thrown in a line with the aisle walls, resting on very
thin columns of cipollino ; that on the south is of
several pieces not belonging to each other. The caps
vary in design. North and south of these arches are
the chapels, with their apses. The arch of the apse is
round, with two antique granite columns ; it had three
small round windows in it. The bishop's throne is
from the earlier church. Beneath the late-Gothic seats
round the apse are the seats of Poppo's time, with
remains of inscriptions : the pavement of marble
slabs and mosaic patterns is also due to him.

In 1896 frescoes of the eleventh century were
discovered beneath the rococo plaster-work in the
semi-dome. In the centre is the Madonna and Child
enthroned in a vesica above six saints, and surrounded
by the symbols of the Evangelists. ■ The saints to the
spectator's right are SS. Hermagoras, Fortunatus, and
Euphemia ; to the left are SS. Mark, Hilarus, and
Titianus. Among them are persons on a smaller
scale — Poppo holding his church, the emperor (Conrad
II.) and the empress, an unnamed person, and a boy
" Einricus " (afterwards Henry III.) ; a border of medal-
lions, with heads and peacocks alternately, surrounds the
field. Below, between the three windows, are six more
saints, three on each side. Two different hands can be
traced. In the crypt are also paintings of the eleventh
and twelfth centuries, the difference in technique
being marked. On the vaults are the legends of SS.
Hermagoras and Fortunatus ; in the lunettes the life
of the Virgin, angels, Apostles, and saints, and on the

THE CRYPT 31

soffits of the arches ; and painted hangings in outline
with figure-subjects upon them, on the lower part of the
wall. There is one subject from the life of S. Mark.
Two kinds of intonaco are used, one hard and white,
the other grey and sandier. There are two rows of
pillars in the crypt, six in the wall round the apse, and
two (Renaissance) at the sides of the westward niche,
which looks like a western apse with altar in front of it.
The roof is a wagon vault pierced with cross- vaults, but
not truly quadripartite, and the caps a curious combina-
tion of badly cut foliage and scrolls and round-arched
arcading. Iron grilles of 1500 isolate the space within
the columns where the sarcophagus stands. There
were doorways to the triangular spaces left between
the apse and the rectangular external form, which were
walled up at a later date. The stairs to the crypt go
through the side wings of the Renaissance tribune
above with a crookedly set room on each side, with
little windows in the walls, one of which is blocked by
the marble sheeting, while those towards the crypt are
also walled up, showing that the structure is early, and
is probably Poppo's. The doors are of iron, with lions'
heads on the south side and man-headed animals on the
other.

The Patriarch Raimondo della Torre (who died in
1299) built the chapel of SS. Ambrogio and Margherita,
which was used as the sepulchral chapel of the family.
It opens to the nave, with two pointed arches with an
oculus above. In the middle of the side wall, between
two sarcophagi of white marble, is that of Allegranza
di Rho, second wife of Moschino della Torre and mother
of the Patriarch Gastone. She died July 23, 1300, and
her sarcophagus is the only one of the five in the chapel
inscribed. On the front are reliefs, and on the sloping
cover her effigy. One of those at her side has a figure
of a person in subdeacon's dress, with a key, no doubt

32 AQUILEIA

Rainaldo della Torre, treasurer to the church and
brother of Gastone. His will of March 31, 1332, gives
a precise description of the monument he wished to
have erected to him. There was to be an archivolt
over it, but if it was erected it must have fallen in the
earthquake of 1348, as there are no traces of it. One of
red marble, with a patriarch fully robed, with pallium
and mitre, standing on a dragon between a processional
cross and a crozier, with censing angels on each side of
the head, is that of either Raimondo or Pagano. It also
bears a relief of the Annunciation. On the front of
another are three circular plaques with the Agnus Dei
in the centre and crosses in the others ; in the spaces
between are flatly treated towers, the arms of the
family. In the north transept a sarcophagus front, or
altar, stands against the wall supported on pillars. It
has five ogee trefoil niches with saints within them, and
a framing of late Gothic foliage, with half-lengths of
angels in the spandrils. The central saint is accom-
panied by two small kneeling donors ; the other four are
the Aquileian virgins. In the south transept is a
sarcophagus on four Romanesque columns with twisted
pillars at the corners, and the sides of the central subject
(S. Hermagoras, with the four virgins small, on their
knees, and the hand of God above). The spaces be-
tween are inlaid with red marble. The caps appear to
be of the fourteenth century, the period of the foliage
cornice.

As a consequence of the earthquake of January 25,
1348, a good part of the church fell down on October 19.
Constant wars prevented the patriarch from having
money to spend on its restoration. A document of
1354 reveals a lamentable state of things — the popula-
tion was but 100 — worshippers did not come, and the
clergy had fled to save themselves from sickness and
death ; no one came to the services of Holy Week be-

LATER RESTORATIONS AND ADDITIONS 33

cause the roads were under water, &c. ; with a final
request that Udine might be named as the seat of the
patriarchate. The rebuilding was commenced under
Lodovico della Torre (1360) and finished under Mar-
quard da Randeck (1365-1380), the architect being
unknown. At this time the nave arcade was made
pointed, and some of the super-abaci carved with
Gothic foliage. After Venice had expropriated the
patriarch (in 1420) money was spent upon the cathedral.
In 1479 tne choir seats were renewed. In 1493, under
Nicolo Donato, the winter choir was renewed. In 1495
the high-altar was erected, upon which Antonio di
Osteno, Bernardino di Bissone, and Domenico di Udine
were employed. Work was also done in the crypt, in
connection with the better preservation of the relics
of some saints. In 1498 the tribune appears to have
been made, under Domenico Grimani. This is a very
decorative arrangement, with a central feature, flanked
by two flights of steps, and side platforms furnished
with a balustrade, which project some way into the
transepts, and are carved elaborately with graceful ara-
besques. In the centre below is a niche with shell-head
and grated window, through which the inside of the
crypt is visible. To the right is a ciborium altar, with a
relief of Christ in the tomb half-length, supported by
the Virgin and S. John, flanked by two scroll-bearing
angels. An inscription describes it as an oratory,
where relics of the saints are venerated. The pillars
bear an architrave — a shell-head beneath, an arch above,
and a gable termination of early Renaissance shape —
above a shallow cornice. The effect is heavy. The
left side was used as a singing-gallery. In the apse
hangs a picture by Pellegrino di S. Daniele (which was
put up in 1503), a good deal repainted — a Risen Christ
with SS. Peter and Hermagoras. The fine frame was
carved by Giovanni Pietro di Udine in 1500, and gilded

34 AQUILEIA

two years later by Antonio de' Tironi of Bergamo.
Before 1484 the floor was of beaten earth ; at that time
a pavement of red Veronese marble was commenced,
completed in 1544. The aisles are at a slightly higher
level than the nave. The Gothic roof was remade on
the pattern of those of SS. Zeno and Fermo, Verona, in
1526 (signed Giuliano q* Vivente of Udine), and restored
in 1560. It is now painted in chequers. Beams resting
on corbels beneath the windows cross the nave, while
the aisles have a flat panelled roof, with bosses at the
intersections of the framing.

The font is supported by four small pillars sur-
rounding a larger central one. In the north aisle is a
circular building with a conical wooden roof supported
upon a little colonnade — work of the fifteenth century in
its present form. There was, however, a " sepolcro " —
a copy of the Holy Sepulchre — here, with a flat cupola,
mentioned in 1077, and described as being near the
grave of Patriarch Sigeard, and in 1085 an altar was
consecrated within it by Patriarch Frederick II. The
ceremony of carrying the Host thither on Good Friday
and locking and sealing the door, from which it was
brought out on Easter Day, lasted till the suppression
of the patriarchate in 175 1.

At that time the treasure and archives were divided
between the bishoprics of Gorz and Udine. The
precious objects were stolen from Udine, and have dis-
appeared, but at Gorz there still remain several. There
is a bishop's crozier of the end of the twelfth century,
Romanesque in style, decorated with seven pieces of
rock-crystal arranged diagonally, and with a knop of
the same, set at a later date. The crook is set with
precious stones, rubies, turquoises, aquamarine, and
lapis lazuli. Within is the Lamb holding a cross ;
under it the whorl finishes with a dragon. A much
older bishop's staff is of worm-eaten wood — set in

OBJECTS FROM THE TREASURY 35

metal at a later date to preserve it from destruc-
tion— said to have been given to S. Hermagoras by
S. Peter or S. Mark. There is also a great crucifix
of gilded silver on a wood basis worked with a
rough naturalism free from Byzantine influence. The
cross is made into a tree, from which grapes hang ; the
nimbus is set with large amethysts and small rubies.
Of the same period is a fine book-cover of gilded silver
with the subject of the Ascension. Christ enthroned
in a vesica is supported by two angels ; below is the
Madonna as orante, surrounded by the Apostles. The
border consists of fine leaf-scrolls, late twelfth century
in character. A silver statuette of the Madonna and
Child is of the fourteenth century. The Child is nude,
tall, and thin, and wears a crown decorated with pearls
and trefoils. The naked portions are matt silver, the
draperies are gilded. It stands on a pedestal of three
ornamented steps. The fate of the precious objects is
reversed in the case of the documents. Those sent to
Gorz have disappeared, whilst Udine still preserves a
considerable number. At Aquileia the only object re-
maining from the treasury is a statue of the Madonna
and Child, of Istrian marble, heavily painted. The
work resembles in style the carving at S. Giovanni in
Fonte, Verona.

The campanile must have been built by Poppo, al-
though the base looks like Roman masonry, since the
mosaics go right under it, but it was added to later, and
the octagonal bell-chamber is inscribed: "md1 xlviii
tadevs • lvranvs * hoc ' o ■ fecit/ ' It is 39 ft. square
and the walls are over 7 ft. thick. The entrance is
approached by 27 steps. It is 70 ft. to the floor of the
bell-chamber.

The narthex has three thick antique pillars, part
granite and part marble, with heavy early Christian
Corinthian caps and super-abaci with crosses upon

36 AQUILEIA

them. The baptistery lies to the west of the narthex,
united to it by a building known as the Chiesa dei
Pagani. This consists of three bays with a descent of
three steps from the first, over which there was once a
cupola. The other bays are cross-vaulted, and there are
several round-headed windows. In the pavement is a
curious pierced stone. It has a cross with the Agnus
Dei in the centre (pierced), and four little window
shapes in the angles with round-headed tympana and
oblong piercings below. There was a second story;
part of the wall of this remains, constructed of ancient
tiles, which were much used in Aquileia in the Middle
Ages ; an inscription records a restoration in 1738. The
baptistery was originally a Roman building, square ex-
ternally and octagonal within, with four niches, one of
which is partially preserved. Remains of the others
have been found outside the octagon. There was an
hexagonal font in the centre, and in the angles of the
walls are the springings of vaults ; there are also six
pillar-stumps of different thicknesses. Most of the
present building is modern, the result of several restora-
tions. On each side of the baptistery and Chiesa dei
Pagani were halls with mosaic floors of the Christian
period, of which that to the south was least damaged
when discovered; it had three patterned fields, with
borders. The open hall between was stone-paved — a
bit of the paving was found a foot deeper than the
original floor of the baptistery.

The museum contains a quantity of exceedingly
interesting objects, the fruit of excavations, which the
director, Signor Maionica, most kindly piloted me
through, calling attention to the various objects of
special interest and giving me details about them of
which otherwise I should have been ignorant. The
collection of objects in amber, many of them stained
a fine red, is the finest in existence, though the most

STATUE OF VENUS, MUSEUM, AQUILEIA

To face page 36

OBJECTS IN THE MUSEUM

splendid examples have gone to the British Museum, to
Udine and Gorz. The sculptured objects include a very
beautiful youthful Venus, a girl apparently of about 17,
a draped statue of the Emperor Claudius in Greek cos-
tume, one of Tiberius as Pon-
tifex Maxim us (both found
near thetheatre),oneof Livia,
showing the arrangement of
the back hair, and marble
wigs to place upon the heads
of statues to keep them in
the fashion. There is also a
draped Venus with a Cupid
hiding beneath her robe, a
copy of the Aura (Spring-
rain) of Scopas, of which
another is in the museum at
Trieste, and a most interest-
ing sculptor's model for use
in the studio, showing how
arms and legs of other pieces
of marble were affixed to
statues. A pedestal shows
the life of Priapus, from his
birth in the spring to his
winter's inactivity ; others
have winged Cupids bearing /?
torches and bestriding dol-^--
phins, the idea being of a

Zm ~ 4- 4.U T 1 J £ il, ANTIQUE STATUE IN THE MUSEUM,

voyage to the Islands of the aquileia

Blest. A panel shows Bac-
chanalian Cupids ; one desires to drink, one is drinking
from a crater, another, supported away, inebriated ; the
robed master of the feast bears a sceptre and is playing
the Pan-pipes. Another relief represents a banquet in
a triclinium. One man sounds a double pipe, another

38 AQUILEIA

carries food to the guests, one of whom is singing an
obscene song, which disgusts the women, who make the
sign of displeasure at him. In a relief of the time of
Heliogabalus a meteoric stone is seen carried in pro-
cession, preceded by duumvirs, lictors, &c. — an evidence
of an Oriental cult practised in Aquileia. Five great
medallions from the same building show busts in very
high relief of Jupiter, Mercury, Vulcan, Venus, and
Minerva. A stone table with a sundial and windrose
engraved upon it has a low seat on three sides, but the
fourth free, so that the hour may be seen at all times of
the day without the annoyance of dodging one's shadow.
The letters of the inscription point to the second century
a.d. as the date of its production. Many sarcophagi
come from the north-east of Aquileia near Columbara,
where a monument was found much resembling those of
Petra and Baalbek in its forms. Inscriptions name
clothiers, fullers, joiners, linen-weavers, builders and
servants, purple-dyers, pikesmiths, a silver-worker, an
Oriental pearl merchant with a sign of the city of Rome,
&c. In the eighteenth century the Mint was discovered,
with bars of silver and baskets of coin. A fine plate
of beaten silver, with the story of Triptolemus, found
here is now at Vienna.

Many pieces of ornament are preserved, often very
finely modelled and also with traces of colour. The larger
pieces, many of which are coarse in workmanship, are
housed under a long shed in the open ; among them are
slabs of ninth-century ornament, lead coffins, and pipes
with pointed covers to keep the sand out, urns for ashes,
&c. There appears to have been a Roman rococo at
Aquileia, earlier than at Spalato or Florence. Here, too,
are some of the early Christian mosaics found during
the excavations in and around the cathedral. Especi-
ally beautiful are the fragments with peacocks and other
birds, and lambs, with freely growing scrolls of vine.

A CURIOUS MEDIEVAL CEREMONY 39

An asbestos net, found at Monastero, used to wrap round
the body during cremation and so keep the bones
together, is interesting, as are lachrymatories mis-
shapen by the flames, small bottles of rock-crystal
beautifully cut, a few enamelled objects and carvings in
ivory, principally children's toys. Rings set with gems
were made of gold for the nobles and of iron for the
citizens, who at a later period used silver and even gold.
Over 40,000 coins have been found in the course of the
excavations, andlamps bearing no less than 800 different
makers' marks. The marks are the same as those found
all through Istria, Dalmatia, and the islands, proving a
large export trade. The most important were those of
C. Vibio Pansa, whose stamp (or those of his successors)
is found in conjunction with imperial names till the
time of Constantine. In the delta of the Isonzo, near
Monfalcone, a portion was called " Insula Pansiana "
even in the Middle Ages. A river in the bay of Mon-
falcone is still called Panzano, and near there is a place
of the same name. There were also glass works at S.
Stefano, Aquileia, where fragments of coloured glass
have been found.

Ruskin refers to a curious ceremony, instituted in
the twelfth century, which was observed in Venice till
1549 " m memorial of the submission of Woldaric,
patriarch of Aquileia, who, having taken up arms
against the patriarch of Grado, and being defeated and
taken prisoner by the Venetians, was sentenced, not to
death, but to send every year on ' Giovedi Grasso '
sixty-two large loaves, twelve fat pigs, and a bull, to
the Doge ; the bull being understood to represent the
patriarch and the twelve pigs his clergy ; and the
ceremonies of the day consisting in the decapitation
of these representatives, and a distribution of their
joints among the senators ; together with a sym-
bolic record of the attack on Aquileia, by the

40 AQUILEIA

erection of a wooden castle in the rooms of the Ducal
Palace, which the Doge and the Senate attacked and
demolished with clubs.' ' Mutinelli quotes the decree.

The patriarchate reached the zenith of its power
under Volfkerus of Cologne, known to the Italians as
Volchero. He was elected in 1204, and ruled till 1218.
His dioceses included seventeen bishoprics of Venice on
terra firma, stretching as far as Como and Trent, and six
in Istria. The Venetian island bishoprics, by the con-
vention of 1 180, were under the Patriarch of Grado.
In 1208 his dominions were so much increased that
they almost exceeded those of the Pope in extent. He
held the duchies of Carniola and Friuli, as well as the
marquisate of Istria. He struck his own coins, of
which there are two types, one closely resembling
those of Aix-la-Chapelle and Cologne, and governed
constitutionally with the assistance of a parliament of
three estates.

GRADO

From Aquileia a steam-launch plies back and forth
to Grado, a distance of some six or seven miles,
at first along a canal with grassy banks plentifully
besprinkled with giant snowdrops in the spring, then
through wide stretches of lagoon along a channel,
marked by piles, sometimes approaching the fisher-
men's huts, which occupy the summit of slight elevations
rising but little above the surface of the water. These
huts are mere shelters of reeds, and, one would think,
quite unfit for human habitation, but close by them the
nets may be seen drying, and perhaps food in course of
preparation over an open fire, while the boat, thrust
into a creek or tied to a stake, occupies the foreground.
These wide-spreading lagoons, the resort of many kinds
of water-fowl in their passage from north to south and
vice versa, are very pictorial. The enclosures in which
fish brought in by the tide are retained, the beds of reeds
and rushes with yellow water-lilies, the figures of women
and children wading and seeking fishy treasures, provide
excellent material for the artist. Occasionally a boat
passes in which a woman is taking fish to Aquileia,
leaving behind it a long trail of ripples. The two great
campanili, of Grado which we are nearing, and of
Aquileia passing into the distance behind us, each with
its cluster of low buildings around, are prominent
against the horizon showing dark against the fine

41 6

42 GRADO

cumulus clouds, which are heaped in sharply denned
masses against the blue of the upper sky and rise in
threatening billows like exhalations from some vast
cauldron, soon to fade away innocuously in the late
afternoon.

Grado is on one of the islands of which a chain
stretches from the mouth of the Isonzo to that of the
Brenta right across the northern border of the Adriatic.
Its port was one of the harbours of Aquileia, at first for
purposes of war, but later for those of commerce. The
town was square in plan, walled, and full of people.
Cassiodorus speaks of its material conditions. The
modern town is most picturesque, with narrow streets
andnumerous courtyards, with outside staircases, quaint
shops, and fascinating plays of light and shade, and so
much of the life of the people passes in the open air that
there is always interesting matter for observation. It
is a seaside resort, visited a good deal for bathing during
the summer months, and there is also, as at Rovigno,
an establishment for scrofulous children. But its chief
attraction for us is archaeological, for it contains early
Christian antiquities of considerable importance.

Its greatest prosperity was between the time of the
great wanderings of the peoples and the descent of the
barbarians into Italy. Its patriarch took the lead in
establishing the government of the islands from which
the Venetian Republic sprang. In 460 Nicetas called
all the bishops, clergy, and leading officials of the islands
together to deliberate on the question of government,
and, after discussion, they agreed to establish one under
the directorship of Tribunes. The first tribune was to
live at Grado, with three others, called "maggiori," but
depending upon him, one for Rivoalto, one for Cande-
ana, and one for Dorsea, living at Rialto, Eraclea, and
Torcello respectively. They had charge of the admin-
istration of justice, presided over the execution of the

A CORNER IN GRADO

To face page 42

HISTORY OF GRADO 43

laws, enforced discipline, and met at times in council to
discuss propositions laid before them. Grado lost its
supremacy in 696, when the assembly held at Eraclea
gave it to that city, though the Patriarch of Grado,
Cristoforo, was given equality with the three tribunes
which Eraclea then had. The next year the first doge,
Paolo Lucio Anafesto, was elected. It was by means of
Fortunatus of Trieste, Patriarch of Grado (803-825),
that the cry of the Istrians, oppressed by the Frankish
duke and his supporters, came to the ears of Charle-
magne, with the result that after a strict inquiry held at
Risano in 804, when the representatives of the cities and
castella exposed the odious proceedings of the bishop,
the duke, and their adherents, they obtained redress.
In 875 the Saracens attacked Grado, but were repulsed.
The next year a similar attack was made by the Slavs of
Croatia and Dalmatia, but the Doge Orso met them,
defeated them, and gave back to several Istrian towns
objects of which they had been robbed.

Between Grado and Aquileia there was a constant
struggle for supremacy, which was in reality a contest
between Venice and the empire, Aquileia standing for
the latter and Grado for the former. A formal peace
was concluded between them during theLateran Council
of 1 180, by which the Patriarch of Grado renounced all
claims over the Istrian bishoprics, except as regards the
hundred amphoras of wine sent by Capodistria from
1075, given as a personal honour to the Doge Pietro
Candiano, and by him handed over to the Patriarch of
Grado. In 452 the Patriarch of Aquileia fled to Grado
from the Huns, returning after they had passed, and in
578, when Aquileia had become Lombard, Paulinus
transferred his seat to Grado, thus putting himself under
Byzantine protection. In 579 a synod was held in the
church. From 607 there were two patriarchs — one
in Grado and one in Aquileia — established for political

44 GRADO

reasons by the Lombards ; they were schismatical, that
is to say, adherents of the " three chapters." During
the continuance of this schism, in 610, three Istrian
bishops were taken from their very churches by the
military, and carried off to Grado, where they were
compelled to bend to the Imperial will in the matter.
Gregory III. sanctioned the division of the two patri-
archates in 731, both having become orthodox, Aquileia
in 698 and Grado in 715. In 145 1 the patriarchate of
Grado was transferred to Venice, where the patriarch
had been living for a long time.

The foundations of the cathedral were laid under
Nicetas (456) by the architect Paulus, who was sent
to him by Pope Leo I. The plan is Romanesque, a
basilica with nave and aisles and no transept, the
nave terminating in an apse eastward. It has two
western doors, which open into a portico of almost the
whole breadth of the church, part being cut off by the
campanile, which is nearly 20 ft. square and over
160 ft. high. The clerestory and low-pitched wooden
roof of the nave are supported by two piers and ten
columns on each side. The columns are antique, but
of varied material — cipollino, white and black and
white- veined marble, and granite ; and there is one of
a rosy and white breccia. The caps vary both in de-
sign and size, and have been repaired with stucco.
Some of them are decadent Roman and the rest
Byzantine : the bases are hidden by a square wooden
boxing. The eleven arches of the nave arcade are
round. The round-headed windows of both nave and
aisles had pierced slabs of stone in them, but in 1740
the openings were made lunette-shaped. One pierced
slab of the ninth century has been found, and is now
placed high up in the apse above the patriarch's throne.
Under Fortunatus and John the Younger, about the
beginning of the ninth century, the church appears to

PULPIT IN THE CATHEDRAL, GRADO

To face page 45

INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL 45

have been beautified ; and again, in the second half of
the tenth, under Vitalis. It is related that the relics
were then provided with fresh receptacles and inscrip-
tions. The choir occupies three bays of the nave, with
a modern enclosure raised by several steps. Just out-
side the rail, by the fourth column on the left, stands
the interesting pulpit, which has a later canopy, but
itself appears to be of the ninth century, judging by the
columns, two of which are twisted, and by the carving
of the symbols of the Evangelists, which seems to be
rather later. On the other hand, there is a square O
in the inscription on S. John's book, of which other
instances occur at Cattaro in an inscription of the ninth
century, and in one of the seventh at Spalato. The
pulpit is sexfoil in plan ; one side is open, and one has
a large cross carved upon it. The g canopy has six
fourteenth or fifteenth-century octagonal colonnettes,
supporting ogee trefoiled arches with a domical ter-
mination, coloured in red and white chequers, and with
scrolls and rosettes of red on the spandrils of the arches
below. The shape and decoration show Arab in-
fluence strongly.

In the pavement is still preserved a great deal of
that laid down by Elias in the sixth century. It filled
the nave, being entirely worked in tesserae of very few
colours — black, a green-grey, red, yellow, and white.
From the west door a pattern, surrounded by a border,
stretches as far as the fifth pair of columns. It consists
of a central band of a wavy pattern, interrupted by
inscriptions and medallions ; the easternmost one is
blank and has a running border, with the corners of the
square (cut off by the band of inscriptions) filled with
scroll-work. The side portions are cut up into squares
by bands of open interlacings, with ivy leaves in the
interstices, and different designs within the squares, or
with inscriptions, most of them in Latin, but one in

46 GRADO

Greek. They record the gift of so many feet of pave-
ment, as at Parenzo ; and one donor, Laurentius the
Viscount Palatine, seems to have been generous to both
cathedrals. A long inscription leaves no doubt as to
the date, and that it was laid down under the Patriarch
Elias (571-585) ; it runs : " Atria quae cernis vario
formata decore squallida sub picto caelatur marmore
tellus longa vetustatis senio fuscaverat aetas prisca en
cesserunt magno novitatis honori praesulis Haeliae
studio praestante beati haec sunt tecta pio semper
devota timori.,,

The flat ceilings and the rococo stucco-work are due
to the restorations of 1740. The apse contains remains
of mediaeval painting — a seated Christ of colossal size
surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists, with
raised right hand and a closed book in the left ; on one
side S. John the Baptist holding an open scroll, and on
the other a saint in green, with gold-shot stole and
nimbus, but no attribute — both larger than life. The
corners are occupied by the patron saints, Hermagoras
and Fortunatus. Round the apse, just above the patri-
arch's seat, runs a row of portraits of bishops of later
date, half-lengths, beneath a round-arched arcade on
a gold ground. On the left nave pier, near the door, are
the remains of a painting of S. Helena, who has nimbus,
cross, and book. In the centre of the apse is the ancient
patriarch's seat, with an inscription upon the wall
commemorating the ancient supremacy of the see : it
is mainly composed of mutilated ninth-century carved
slabs, probably portions of the chancel of that date.
Other slabs with similar designs and portions of a
ciborium are preserved in a little collection of marbles
under a shed behind the apse, where are also several
sarcophagi and other antique fragments.

In the treasury are two early reliquaries of silver,
found beneath the high-altar in August, 1871. One is

THE PATRIARCH'S THRONE, CATHEDRAL, GRADO

To face page 46

EARLY RELIQUARIES 47

cylindrical, with a convex lid, upon which is represented
in relief the Virgin enthroned, with the Babe at her
breast. Her right hand holds a cross-headed sceptre,
and behind her head is a nimbus with the usual mono-
gram, MH ®T. The cylinder has no decoration but two
bands of names of saints in Roman capital letters.
These are : " Sane. Maria, Sane. Vitvs, Scs. Cassianvs,
Sane. Pancrativs, Sane. Ypolitvs, Sane. Apollinaris,
Sane. Martinvs." Within is a central cylinder and six
compartments radiating from it, which contained a
small cylindrical vase of gold with rings round it, a
little glass flask, closed up and containing water, a little
gold box with crosses and a leaf pattern on the outside,
and a cross of dark-green enamel on the cover, a small
slab of chalk or cement with a Greek cross imprinted
on it, and several thin gold plates with the names of
saints upon them. Several of the printed accounts of
the discovery of this treasure say that there were six
of these plates in the casket ; but the glass case which
encloses it and its contents has eleven, with the names
as follows : " Domna Maria, Scs. Cassianvs, Sc. Mar-
tinvs, Sc. Brancativs, Scs. Troteomvs, Sea. Agnes, Scs.
Bitvs, Scs. Apolinnaris, Scs. Hyppolitvs, Scs. Sabas-
tianvs, Scs. Severvs." Dr. Kandler thought that it
came from the church of S. Niceta in Aquileia, and was
brought to the island with other treasures in 452, for
safety, from Attila. De Rossi thought that the appel-
lative " Domna " distinguishing the Virgin was an
argument against such high antiquity ; but in a later
number of his " Bullettino " he described an inscription
of about 457 at Loja, in Spain, in which the title " Dom-
nus " or " Domna " is applied to all the saints, including
the Virgin. There is a legend that " When Paul was
patriarch of Aquileia the priest Geminianus was told
in a vision to go to the destroyed city of Trieste to find
the bodies of 42 martyrs buried between the wall of

48 GRADO

the church dedicated to them and the city wall. Going
thither with many other Venetians he found the holy
bodies in the specified place, covered over with marble
slabs, and, taking them, went to the destroyed city of
Aquileia, where he added to the relics the bodies
of Cantius, Cantianus, Cantianilla, and the virgins
Euphemia, Dorothea, Thecla, and Erasma, and then
took them all to Grado." Paul is Paulinus I. (557-569),
and the occurrence took place after the Lombards had
gone by in 568. The forty-two martyrs were laid side
by side in the church of S. Vitale, and Paul died the
next year.

The other reliquary is elliptical, and has upon its
sides reliefs and inscriptions bordered with a rough
leaf-moulding. Round the middle are eight me-
dallions with male and female heads, divided into two
groups of five and three by palm-trees. Above and
below is a row of names ; those of the top row being :
" >%< Sanctvs Cantivs, Sane. Cantianvs, Sancta Can-
tianilla, Santvs Qvirinvs, Santvs Latinv." The lower
row runs : " ^ S. Lavrentivs, vs. Ioannes, vs Niceforvs
Santisreddedidbotvm " (vir spectabilis, &c, reddidit
votum). The use of b for v is characteristic of the
period of the Patriarch Elias. The cover is slightly
domical ; upon it are two lambs, and between them a
gemmed cross. They stand on a hill from which the
four rivers of Paradise flow. Within was a second
silver casket filled with water, and some remains of
relics. At Pola some reliquaries of somewhat the same
kind were found, of which a description will be given
later.

In the Museo Sacro of the Vatican library is a
similar capsella found at Am Beida in Tunisia. It is
oval, and has the same bands of ornament ; round the
body are reliefs. On one side is a lamb with a cross
above his back, and on either side four sheep (with

OBJECTS IN THE TREASURY 49

tufted tails, a Tunisian variety) coming towards him
from an arched and pillared building. On the other is
the Labarum monogram with ornamental terminations
on a hill from which the four Paradise streams flow ; a
stag on either side kneels to drink. On the cover
stands a saint, on the four Paradise streams, between
two lighted tapers in candlesticks, holding a crown ;
whilst the hand of God holds another over his head.
There are no nimbi. The reliquary was empty and
without any compartments. De Rossi pronounced it
to be of the sixth century, or the end of the fifth.

The treasury also contains an oblong fourteenth-
century casket and two Limoges gemellions, as well as
a good deal of late silver work, and an interesting altar
frontal. The gemellions are champleve on copper,,
with engraved backs showing traces of gilding. A
central circle on the face contains a shield with a ram-
pant lion, enamelled in blue ; round it is a quatrefoil
made by four larger circles which overlap at the re-
entering angle. The spandril spaces are filled with
dragon-like monsters on a green ground. The ring and
the shield show metal. The quatrefoil is outlined with
white, and filled with scrolls and figures righting with
each other or with beasts. The corner pieces have a
little tower and scrolls, the windows and cornice are
red enamel, the ground is green. The outside edge
has a zigzag of blue enamel. The hole through which
the water was poured over the hands has a spout
representing an animal's head. I believe these basins,
to be the only examples of Limoges work to be found
along the coast.

The altar-frontal is inscribed : " ^ MCCCLXII de
Settembrio in lo tempo del nobele Miser Andrea
Contarini Doxe di Vanesia e Miser Francesco Contarini
Conte de' Grado fo f atta questa palla e Donado Maca-
lorso da Vinesia me fece." It is of silver-gilt, 4 ft. 7 in...

50 GRADO

high and 7 ft. 4 in. long, with twenty-one divisions,
in three rows of seven panels, the bars being covered
with leaf scrolls and with medallion half-lengths of
Greek saints at the crossings. In the upper row, in
the middle panel, is a half-length " Ecce Homo,"
right and left are the symbols of the Evangelists,
and the outer corners have the Annunciation — the
Virgin on the right, and the angel on the left. In
the centre of the second row Christ sits in the attitude
of blessing, with raised right hand, and holding an
open book in the left. On its pages is inscribed : " Ego
sum lux mundi qui in me crediderit non morietur in
aeternum Amen." On the right are SS. John, Paul,
and Fortunatus ; on the left, SS. Felix, Peter, and
Martha. In the lowest row the centre shows a chalice
with the Host ; on the right, SS. Hermagoras, Thecla,
and Erasma ; on the left, SS. Dorothea, Euphemia,
and another Fortunatus.

The patriarchal seat given by Heraclius to the
Patriarch Primigenius was taken in 1520 to S. Mark's,
Venice, where it may still be seen in the treasury.
Pasini says it is certainly of Egyptian manufacture, in
proof of which both the character of the ornaments
and tradition are invoked. The Chronicles of the Acts
of S. Mark in Aquileia, which are earlier than the
eleventh century, say that it was covered with ivory
plaques, " utique antiquo," but the large amount of
carving upon it leaves little space for the attachment
of further ornament. Its history seems quite clear.
Heraclius brought it from Alexandria to Constantinople
about 630, and between 1520 and 1534 it was behind
the high-altar of S. Mark's. In the latter year it was
moved into the baptistery on to the altar, where it
stayed till taken into the treasury.

It is made of Oriental cipollino. The medallion at
the top is cemented on. On it is a crux ansata, with

THE SEAT OF S. MARK 51

two figures at the sides, both in front and behind, be-
lieved to be the four Evangelists. On the exterior of
the arms are ten lighted tapers, thought to symbolise
the ten churches founded in Africa by SS. Matthew and
Mark. Below the medallion in front is a Lamb on a
hill, from which the rivers of Paradise flow, and on which
is either a vine or a fig-tree. On the back are an eagle
and a lion, each with six wings. The background is
starred, there are two palms at the bottom, and a Tree
of Life in the space between the lion's lower wings.
Above the eagle's head is a crescent. Beneath the
tapers on the outside is a bull with six wings on a starred
background, and on the other side an angel, also with
six wings, with two palms below, and two little two-
winged trumpeting angels in the top corners, on a
similarly starred ground. These three sides have a
band of lattice-work at the base ; the front has a panel
with zigzag lines. The inscription on the front has
puzzled paleographists. It has been read as Hebrew
and as stating that it is the chair of S. Mark. A hole
in the back and another in the side are thought to have
perhaps held the debris of the wooden chair which he
actually used.

Herr Graeven believes that he has identified
several plaques of ivory which belonged to the chair
in different museums. They all display the type of
head afterwards used for S. Paul in Western art, which
Dr. Strzygowski has identified as representing S. Mark
in Alexandrian ivories.

The octagonal baptistery, to the north of the
cathedral, shows no sign of its age, which must no
doubt be considerable ; near to it is the church of
S. Maria delle Grazie, which has fragments of similar
paving to that in the cathedral, including the inscrip-
tions. In the floor in front of the altar are also several
pieces of ninth-century ciborium heads, and bits of

52 GRADO

twelfth-century carving. It is possible that the bap-
tistery once had a canopy such as still exists at Cividale,
and that the fragments here and at the cathedral
formed part of it. The nave has six bays, with five
antique columns on each side, of cipollino, granite, white
and black, and white-veined marble. The caps are very
varied. Some are Byzantine of the type of those at
S. Apollinare in Classe ; two are truncated reversed
pyramids with roughly cut scrolls on the surface, and
one of these has a super-abacus. Two of them are
queer, rough things, with brackets at the angles in place
of volutes, and a deep abacus sloping back, with a cross
upon it. The bases of the pillars are boxed in, as at
the cathedral. An antique base serves as support to
the holy-water basin. The floor has been mended with
slabs of red and white marble and tiles, and the mosaic
goes on into the rooms which flank the apse, at the ends
of the aisles. This arrangement of the plan is exactly
the same as that in a church at Kanytelides not far
from Tarsus, the plan of which Miss Lowthian Bell
gives in her book on Cilicia and Lycaonia ; it also
occurs in the church of Bir-Umm-Ali in Tunisia.
De Vogue gives two plans closely resembling it, and
Mr. H. C. Butler describes some very similar plans near
Is-Sanemen in the Northern Hauran (the ancient JEre),
which are probably Const antinian. It seems certain
that it is an Oriental importation, especially in connec-
tion with the fact that the free-standing apse, as in the
earlier church at Parenzo and at Salona, occurs quite
frequently in Cilicia and Lycaonia, as Miss Lowthian
Bell shows.

Between Grado and Aquileia is a little island with
a celebrated church, S. Maria di Barbana. In the early
centuries of the Christian era legend says that a picture
of the Virgin floated hither on a springtide, and was
caught in the branches of a little tree, which lived till

A FESTIVAL ON THE LAGOON 53

the middle of the nineteenth century when a great
storm destroyed it. The picture and the church which
contains it are the object of an annual pilgrimage on
the Feast of the Assumption ; people from all around
accompany a sacred picture from Grado to visit it.
On this day the lagoon is alive with numberless craft,
the priests' boat leading, with banners and tapers and
fully vested ecclesiastics ; and the air resounds with
simple church melodies. At Barbana the Virgin's
picture waits on the pier to greet that from Grado ; and
report says that it has been observed to nod at the
moment the sister picture reached the shore !

GRADO TO TRIESTE

There is a small steamer which plies from Grado
to Trieste, going one day and returning the next,
but fine weather is very necessary for that mode
of travel, as the sea can be very rough between Venice
and Trieste. We did not hit the day of its sailing, so
retraced our steps to Villa Vicentina and went via
Monfalcone and Nabresina. Between these two places
the railway rises steadily, giving fine views over the sea
and plain. Looking forward and back the pale-grey
line of the viaducts winds round and about the slopes
like some gigantic snake, or like the aqueducts of the
Campagna of Rome. Here the grey limestone breaks
through the vegetation more and more, for the line is
approaching the lofty stony plateau of the Karst, and
enormous heaps of debris accentuate the position of the
numerous quarries. They are very extensive, going
far into the rock, which is also pierced by many great
hollows, like entrances to an unknown under-world.
All over Istria these memorials of sunken river channels
occur — a maze of holes and paths, in which the water is
still sinking deeper through the porous stone as through
a sieve. Curious funnel-shaped depressions often occur
amid uniform slopes, several hundred feet across and
sometimes 200 ft. deep, as if worn by ancient whirl-
pools, and many of the rivers become subterranean,

THE CASTLE OF DUINO 55

sometimes coming to the surface again many miles
away. The river Rjeka, for instance, enters into the
grottoes of S. Canzian, near Divaca — a succession of
narrow abysses, hollows, pits, waterfalls, and stalactite
grottoes, with pools in them ; and other examples will
be noted farther down the coast.

The Castle of Duino has been called " The pearl of
the Coastlands." It stands finely upon its rock, just
where the diluvial plain meets the lime or sandstone
formation. In a couple of hundred paces or so the vege-
tation changes its character from that of upper Italy to
the softness of the southern islands, the sheltered slope
to the sea being like an evergreen garden. Aloes root
in the rocks as at Sorrento, and even in winter the
purple cyclamen may be found in flower. Its name in
antiquity was Castrum Pucinum. Here Augustus had
a villa, whence the best wine for his table was brought.
From the line, too, the campanili of Grado and Aquileia
are visible, far away over the plain, dark against lagoon
or sky in the evening, or flashing white in the morn-
ing sun.

At Monfalcone we took corner seats in an un-
occupied carriage, but while we were arranging our
things an old man, rather infirm, got in and made me
to understand that he wanted mine. German was the
language which he spoke. I thought perhaps I was
intruding, though there was nothing on the seat to
show that it was taken, so gave it up. We had two
nice youths, who were talking Italian, at the other end
of the compartment, cadets of some kind in uniform,
going home for the Easter holidays. The old man was
very short-sighted and gazed at the landscape through
a little telescope. When we left Nabresina and went
the other way to run down to Trieste, the views
changed to the other side of the carriage, and to my
astonishment the selfish old fellow moved across and

56 GRADO TO TRIESTE

turned one of the youths out of his place ! to which
he submitted quite meekly.

The descent from the high land to the coast level
is very fine, the eye ranging far over the blue water,
headland projecting beyond headland, paler and more
diaphanous, till the historic point of Salvore fades into
the distance scarcely distinguishable. Below the blue
is stained by the smoke of steamers and flecked with
the many-coloured sails of other craft, while in the
middle-distance populous Trieste stretches round the
curve of the bay, with many vessels at its wharves, and
the smoke from the Lloyd-Arsenal mingling with that
from the ironworks at Muggia beyond S. Servolo across
the bay ; or, if it should be night, lines of lights define
the long stretch of quays and streets like strings of
pearls, and sparkle up the heights which the houses
climb in several directions. Prosecco is passed, which
gives its name to a celebrated wine much esteemed in
Trieste ; Miramar, with its memories of the ill-fated
Maximilian of Mexico, who delighted in its beautiful
situation and splendour of appointment ; then comes
Barcola, where excavations have proved the existence
of Roman villas, which have enriched the museum of
Trieste with many interesting objects ; and at last the
train slackens and stops at the west end of the town,
in the fine station built with that disregard for economy
of space and lavish expenditure of material which the
Englishman finds remarkable in Continental railway
management.

Trieste is primarily a modern town, and the people
are very proud of the important buildings which adorn
it, as they have every right to be. The post office, for
instance, is palatial, and round and near to the Piazza
Grande are large and showy edifices which include the
Town Hall and the Lloyd Palace, while the Greek
church is a fine building in the Byzantine style, de-

SHIPPING AT TRIESTE: THE CANAL, WITH THE GREEK CHURCH
AND SANT' ANTONIO

To face page 57

THE QUAYS AT TRIESTE 57

corated with mosaics, and the church of Sant' Antonio
makes a very effective termination to the Canale
Grande. The broad quays are thronged with people
of many nationalities and varied costumes, from the
ships which lie along them flaunting ensigns of all
kinds — red and white crosses, blue, yellow, and black
stripes, moons and stars — Italian, Norwegian, Greek,
Turkish, French, and Montenegrin, as well as Istrian
and Dalmatian. The Greek ships generally lie in the
Canal, the Norwegian by the Molo S. Carlo (so called
from a warship which was sunk in 1737), and beyond
the health office for the port at the Molo Giuseppino,
where many others also lie, and the various passenger
steamers in definite berths — the big English steamers
at the end of the projecting quays. From a Sicilian
ship hundreds of chests of oranges and lemons may be
seen unloading ; from a Venetian trabarcolo great
heaps of onions and ropes of garlic ; an Istrian boat
disgorges a small mountain of green water-melons ;
from a Dalmatian cutter barrel after barrel of wine is
rolled out, much of which goes on to Bordeaux (!) ;
and the same from a Greek schooner near, while its
neighbour from the Levant lands grapes and chests
of raisins, and the Norwegian ship brings train oil or
wood. Many Turkish and Albanian costumes lighten
up the crowd with their brilliant colours and quaint
shapes, Bosniaks and Montenegrins are occasionally
seen, and a fair number of Morlacchi, though fewer than
lower down the coast. The weather-beaten Chioggian
fishermen, too, with their red caps and waist-scarves,
black curly hair and great rings in their ears, are
very picturesque, though less unusual. The Triestines
themselves are abandoning the old costume of the
countryman, the " mandriere/' described as consisting
of a long waistcoat with great silver buttons hanging
on it, short black hose open at the knee, and a short

58 GRADO TO TRIESTE

black, close-fitting jacket. In summer he wore a
broad, flapping hat ; in winter a costly cap of so-called
beaver-skin, which he had probably inherited from his
grandfather. The women had broad frocks with
coloured borders, and a short, heavy cloth jacket ; and
on their heads a white linen cloth hanging down behind,
with costly lace upon it. The girl of the people, the
" sessolotta," and the seamstress, the " sartorella,"
both go bareheaded, and are proud of their hair ; they
are fond of flowers and songs, and spend much of their
time in the open air. I quote a Gradese song, which
is also sung at Trieste, and must be of some antiquity,
since it names the gondola, which is not now seen
either at Grado or Trieste.

Lisetta guarda, bella e la luna
Argento piove sulla laguna,
Non e una nuvola ; quieto e il mar —
Lisetta, in gondola ti voi menar ?

La bavisella che va soffiando
Con quel bel viso di quando in quando
I biondi boccoli te li fa far —
Lisetta, in gondola ti voi menar ?

The markets are rich with colour and well looked
after. Officials go round constantly testing the ar-
ticles of food sold, while the women (who are generally
the sellers) look on with anxiety. A dozen or more,
men and women, will bring in their wares on a cart,
10 or 15 ft. long, each putting a hand to the work.

The city existed in antiquity. Strabo knew it as
a Carnian market- town. Various derivations of the
Latin name " Tergeste " have been suggested, of which
perhaps the most probable is from the Celtic " twr,"
water or sea, and " geste," colony, establishment. The
fact that it was the only city held by the Carni on the
sea-coast increases the probability. A Roman colony

ANCIENT TRIESTE 59

was established here in 129 B.C. The amount of tribute
paid by the various cities is-an index of their import-
ance ; both Pola and Parenzo paid more than Trieste.
The Triestines were enrolled in the tribe Pupinia. The
city was the landing-place for Roman troops, as was
the case in Trajan's campaign against the Dacians.
The fulling establishments of both Trieste and Pola
were known far and wide.

The Romans made the hill of S. Giusto the centre
of their colony, adding to the defensive works the
temple of the Capitoline divinities, reconstructed with
a magnificence worthy of the increased importance of
the city by Clodius Quirinale, prefect of the fleet of
Ravenna. Remains of it are the seven columns within
the campanile (built in 1337 and restored in 1556), still
bearing architrave, frieze, and cornice, and fragments of
architectural carving and inscriptions encrusted in its
walls, or preserved in the civic Museo Lapidario. There
was an antique theatre at Trieste also ; its shape only
can be traced, though the name of the street is still
" Rena Vecchia."

S. Hermagoras is said to have planted a church here
about 50 a.d., by means of missionaries sent from
Aquileia. S. Giusto, one of the patron saints of the
city, probably died about 303. The other two are
S. Sergio, a soldier, whose halberd still appears in the
arms of the town, and S. Servolo, a pious youth who
lived at one time in a grotto not far from this place,
where they both were martyred. There is said to have
been a bishop in the fourth century, but the list of
authentic bishops begins with Frugiferus in the sixth.
When Christianity triumphed, a church was built on
the Capitol on the ruins of the ancient temple of
Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, dedicated to the Virgin of
the Assumption. This was the part to the north of the
present church (see plan), now the nave of the Holy

60 GRADO TO TRIESTE

Sacrament, " del Santissimo," in the apse of which are
the mosaics of the twelve Apostles, probably earlier than

l«T*r ft)ar» liOO

PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL, TRIESTE

the sixth century ; while those in the vault, together
with the border, are later. Till some twenty years ago

THE CATHEDRAL, TRIESTE 61

a difference in the level of the floor between the three
columns farthest east on each side (where the pulpit
stands) marked the place of the original choir. The
walled-up clerestory windows of the right side are
ancient. The fourteen columns have been plastered
over to make them uniform, but are evidently of differ-
ent thicknesses, suggesting the use of older material.
The caps are for the most part rough imitations of
Corinthian, and the bases are stilted Attic in type. Of
the baptistery nothing remains but the hexagonal font of
marble in the chapel of S. John the Baptist, where there
is also an ancient well and the apparatus for baptism
by ablution, not now used. In the time of Justinian,
the second, smaller, church (probably dedicated to
SS. Giusto and Servolo) was erected at the south side
by Bishop Frugiferus, about 550, as the monogram at
the left of the apse shows. The mosaics in the apse
are late Byzantine. Four great columns support a
cupola in front of the presbytery, by means of four
round arches, pendentives, and a drum, round which is
an arcade of sixteen stilted round arches with foliated
caps and prominently projecting abaci, which it is
thought may belong to the original building, though
the cupola itself is later. The small apse of the south
aisle, with vaulted roof, also belonged to the first
building. In front of the apses is a solea with a wagon
vault, except in front of the small aisle apse, where it
is quadripartite. The aisle is raised a step above the
nave. The arcades are uniformly round-arched and
stilted, and the caps generally have super-abaci. The
north aisle has pointed arches at intervals and a flat
roof ; the nave of the Santissimo also has a flat roof
with beams and brackets. There is a triumphal arch
and one blocked window in the apse, with mosaic on
the splay of the jamb.

The mosaic in the semi-dome is probably an eleventh-

62 GRADO TO TRIESTE

century restoration of an older work, itself very care-
fully restored in 1863. The Virgin, robed in blue and
holding the Divine Child to her bosom, is enthroned
between the archangels Michael and Gabriel, who hold
lilies and are robed in priestly costume. The Child
blesses with the right hand in the Greek fashion.
Below, on the wall, are figures of the Apostles, of a very
early date, for SS. Peter and Paul are without their
usual attributes, and the white draperies shaded with
pale colours are early Christian in arrangement. Be-
tween the figures are palm-trees and conventional
plant ornaments. The church is very dark, but the
details of the mosaics may be studied in the careful
copies in the museum. Above the altar of S. Giusto,
to the right, in the semi-dome, SS. Giusto and Servolo
stand on each side of our Saviour, beneath whose feet
are two monsters, asp and basilisk. The central apse
was reconstructed in the seventeenth century. The
main reconstruction took place in the fourteenth
century. The aisle walls of the two churches were
demolished, and a nave built reaching from the pillars
of one church to those of the other; thus uniting them
under one roof, the western wall being placed contigu-
ous to the campanile, and chapels added at each side.
The memorial of the Gens Barbia was sawn in two and
used as jambs for the west door, and inscriptions from
the pedestals of statues and classical ornamental frag-
ments were used in the campanile, both round the
openings and close to the niche which encloses the
statue of S. Giusto holding a model of the cathedral and
castle. The consecration took place in 1385, Bishop
Henry of Wildenstein officiating. Below the S. Giusto
mosaics are wall-paintings of the fourteenth century,
in niches of a much earlier date, with slender antique
columns of precious marbles ; in the centre the saint
stands with a model of the city in his hand — the earliest

THE CATHEDRAL, TRIESTE 63

record of its appearance extant ; the other niches show

FIGURE OF S. GIUSTO, CAMPANILE OF THE CATHEDRAL, TRIESTE

his sufferings. In the niche of S. Apollinaris are re-
mains of frescoes of two dates found in 1892, and

64 GRADO TO TRIESTE

thought to belong to the sixth and the tenth centuries ;
other remains of the fourteenth or fifteenth century,
found under whitewash, prove that the whole church
was ornamented with painting as the "Acts" relate.
When the roof was raised the exterior of the drum of
S. Giusto was enclosed within the church. The tri-
lobate roof of the nave was mediaeval, but has lately
been restored. The facade also was restored in 1843,
and the gravestones ranged along its base were then
removed from the floor.

In the sacristy is a picture signed Tommaso Giottino,
and dated 1313 ; it is thought to have belonged to the
high-altar. There is a picture by Benedetto Carpaccio,
of the Madonna, between SS. Giusto and Servolo, in
the right-hand portion of the church. The treasury
is kept in the chapel of S. Antonio Abate, to the north
of the apse of the Santissimo ; it is closed with a very
fine late Renaissance German iron grille, with elaborate
projecting floral bosses. It contains a thirteenth-
century processional cross, with a repousse Christ on a
ground of gilded silver.

The original wheel-window of the facade is in the
Museo Lapidario, just below the cathedral, where a
good many well-heads of Venetian type are also pre-
served, and a few fragments of eighth and ninth-
century carving, as well as the usual antique columns,
bases, and inscriptions, one expects to find. There are
also stone balista balls, relics of ancient sieges, many
cinerary urns, and a few mutilated figures, grouped
under the trees and upon the terraces which descend
to the little temple in which the better pieces are
housed. These include the lower half of a female
figure, graceful in pose, and, in the folds of the drapery,
a decree of the Decurions' College of Trieste in honour
of the quaestor and Senator Fabius Severus (of the time
of Antoninus Pius), engraved on one of two large

ANTIQUE REMAINS

pedestals, a sarcophagus and steles, the inscriptions
from the jambs of the campanile, &c. The collection
is mainly due to Dr. Dom. di Rossetti, who, in 1830,
erected the monument to Winckelmann (murdered
here in 1768),
which is against
one of the walls.
Near the Jesuit
church, half-
way down the
slope of the hill,
is a half-buried
Roman arch of
the time of
Severus, orna-
mented equally
on both sides,
perhaps a me-
morial of one
of the ancient
gates. It is
known as the
Arco di Ric-
car do , from
some fancied
connection with
Richard Cceur
de Lion.

The finest
objects in the
Civic Museum are two pieces of antique Greek metal-
work found at Taranto. One is a bronze jug, upon
which are represented two griffins, facing each other by
the sides of a palmette, with a flowing band of vine-
leaves surrounding the body above. The relief is very
delicate, and the design beautiful. The other is a

ARCO DI RICCARDO, TRIESTE

66 GRADO TO TRIESTE

rhyton of silver which is almost unique. The motif is
the head of a young deer. The ears, which project at
right angles, are riveted on ; the rest is repousse in one
piece. It is so finely modelled and so accurate in its
detail, that it has been recognised as a representation of
the Cervus Dama, which was formerly common in South
Italy. The interior of the ears and the lip of the cup
have been gilt, and in the nostrils is niello. Round the
neck is a band with four small figures, probably repre-
senting the nuptials of Poseidon and Saturia, daughter
of Minos, from which sprang Taras, the mythical
founder of Taranto. Two of the figures are seated,
two standing ; their draperies are gilded. The handle
curves gracefully to the back of the jawbones, where it
is attached to a palmette. The work may be of the
fourth century B.C., the doe's head being much finer
than the figures, which are possibly a later addition.
The only similar piece of silver-work known is the
bulFs-head rhyton in the Hermitage Collection, St.
Petersburg. In this also the figures (which are of
barbarians) are inferior to the animal forms.

There are various sculptures discovered at Barcola,
the finest of which is a male torso with the greater part
of the legs, prehistoric objects, coins, a personification
of Istria, things found at Pirano, and three splendid
large Chinese bronzes. The copies of the mosaics of
the Apostles from S. Giusto are on the ceiling of the
upper room. A seal of the city of the fourteenth
century bears three towers and the inscription : " Sis-
tilianum ' publica * Castilir * mare * Certos * dat ' michi *
fines." Sistiana was on the north of Trieste ; Castilir,
the river Risano, was the southern boundary. The
present arms were given by Frederick IV., 1464 — a
black two-headed eagle on gold on the first of three
horizontal fields, and on the lowest the halberd of
S. Sergius, on the colours of the archduchy of Austria.

LATER HISTORY OF TRIESTE 67

The bishopric of Trieste corresponded to the Roman
municipium in its boundaries. The bishops gradually
became temporal lords of the city, and in 1295 the
commune bought its freedom from Brissa di Toppo for
two hundred marks. At this time the first communal
palace was built. The first statute, however, dates
from 13 13-13 19. It provides for a foreign podesta, a
greater and lesser council, and the usual officials from
the noble families. The title of Count of Trieste was
first taken by Antonio di Negri (1350-1370). During
his time Venice besieged the city for eleven months,
conquering it in 1368, notwithstanding the attempted
succour of Leopold of Austria. They then built a fort
on the hill of S. Giusto and another on the shore called
Amarina. Trieste made overtures to the dukes of
Austria, and war continued between them and Venice
till 1370, when it was ended by the peace of Kaisach,
by which Venice agreed to pay 75,000 florins of gold,
and to give up the castle of Vragna, as well as to
relinquish all claim to Trieste and her territory. The
Venetian forts were demolished, and in 1382 the city
gave itself to the Habsburgs to make itself secure.
In 1470 Frederick III. built the castle to control the
factions which had been indulging in civil war, and
Trieste lost a good deal of her liberty. The mediaeval
city formed a triangle on the north-west slope of the
castle. Till the middle of the eighteenth century it
was a small town of 6,000 inhabitants, but the gift of
free harbour rights by Charles VI., in 1719, soon made
it prosperous. Italian, German, and Swiss merchants
settled in numbers, and the population grew till it is
now over 160,000.

The bishop of Trieste was subject to the Patriarch
of Aquileia, and a special form of worship was used,
invented by the Patriarch Paulinus. This is still in
existence, partly printed and partly in MS.

68 GRADO TO TRIESTE

On Saturday, June 10, 1501, Canon Johannes
Baptista, the chancellor, used the Roman rite in the
cathedral for the first time, a fact noted as remarkable
in several documents. In Aquileia itself the form
continued in use till 1585, and in S. Mark's, Venice,
till the fall of the Republic. In Trieste confraternities
were established very early. That of S. Giusto is
mentioned in 1072.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ISTRIA

The name " Istria " is derived from the Istro, con-
founded by the ancient geographers with the Danube
(Ister), and therefore supposed to be a branch of it.
Considering the testimony of ancient writers as to the
migration of Thracians, it appears probable that the
Istrians were of these people, a band who left Pontic
Istria by ascending the rivers Danube, Save, and
Lubiana, crossed the Julian Alps, and descended to the
Adriatic. Some such migration may be at the root of
the story of the passage of the Argonauts, pursued by
the Colchians. In the ninth century B.C. Ionians from
Miletus settled colonies in Istria, who were followed by
Corinthians in 735 B.C. It has been claimed that the
name " Adriatic " is derived from Adar, the Asiatic sun-
god, or god of fire. Plenty of stone implements and
other prehistoric objects have been found in caves and
burial places, and there are many Celtic place-names ;
the Celts arrived in the fourth or fifth century B.C.,
and contested the country with the older immigrants.
Under Roman rule the two races ultimately intermixed,
the Celts being in the majority.

The oldest inhabitants thus appear to have been of
Pelasgic stock, Celto-Thracian. The Carnians were a
branch of those of Lycaonia and Acarnania, who also
settled in Gaul, and, according to Livy, mixed with the
Etruscans during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus.

yo HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ISTRIA

They were sailors and merchants, but also pirates.
When the Romans founded Aquileia they were forced
to take measures to ensure safe navigation and to pre-
vent danger to the new colony. Therefore, in 178 B.C.,
an expedition against the Istrians was undertaken
under the Consul Aulus Manlius Vulso, but without the
authorisation of the Senate, the army being trans-
ported by ship to the environs of Muggia. The
Istrians attacked the camp in a fog, and, having driven
the Romans to the shore, sat down to eat — and drink.
While they were incapacitated in consequence, the
Romans returned and killed most of them. The follow-
ing year they entered Istria again, sacking and devas-
tating the country. In the battle which followed, 4,000
Istrians were left on the field, and the rest took refuge in
the cities, and asked for peace. The negotiations were
broken off owing to the Consul Claudius proceeding in
an irregular manner, and Nesactium was vigorously
besieged with two fresh legions. A stream which
defended the walls and supplied drinking-water was
diverted by the Romans ; its failure convinced the
inhabitants that their gods were either powerless or
angry, and during the final assault the despairing
Istrians killed their women and children to save them
from slavery, and threw their bodies over the walls.
Epulus, the king, fell upon his sword when he saw the
enemy within the walls ; the rest either perished or were
made slaves. Mutila and Faveria were also attacked
and levelled with the ground, and quiet reigned in
Istria. Livy says that at that time 5,622 persons
were sold into slavery, the authors of the war were
beaten and then decapitated, and Istria was garrisoned
with Roman troops. In 129 B.C. the Istrians rose in
revolt when Rome was occupied with the Gepid war.
The Consul Caius Sempronius Tuditanus crushed this
revolt, and after that colonies were established at

ISTRIA UNDER THE EMPIRE 71

Mgida. (Capodistria), iEmonia (Cittanova), Albona, Par-
entium, Piquentum, Pola, Tergeste, and probably in
other places. Many Istrians fled into the Karst region,
and for a long time the land was unsafe. Julius
Caesar had to take measures to protect Tergeste from
raids.

The Italianising of the country proceeded apace.
Many Slav names occur in Roman inscriptions ; but in
127 B.C. 14,000 Roman colonists arrived, and year by
year more came, until the time of Augustus, both
plebeians and patricians. Many of the latter of
Istrian birth occupied important posts outside Istria ;
and, according to an ancient Aquileian breviary quoted
by Dr. Kandler, many of the Christian martyrs be-
longed to patrician families. The names of SS.
Euphemia, Thecla, Apollinaris, Lazarus, Justina, Zeno,
Sergius, Bacchus, Servulus, and Justus may be quoted.
The towns benefited in material ways, aqueducts were
constructed to supply them with water, and fine roads,
such as the consular road from Pola to Aquileia and
Venetia, with its many branches, provided easy and
rapid communication. There was traffic in wines,
wood, marble, and granite. Istrian acorns nourished
a fine breed of pigs which were exported to Rome.
The purple-dyeing factories of Cissa near Rovigno, the
fulling works of Pola and Trieste, and the potteries of
Aquileia were known far and wide. Nor were philan-
thropic works neglected. Under some of the later
Pagan emperors foundling hospitals and schools were
established in separate provinces for orphans and
poor children.

Under the just and wise rule of Theodoric the
province flourished ; but the people always regarded
the Goths as barbarians, and when the Byzantines
attacked Istria in 539-544 and 552 the troops of Vitalius,
Belisarius, and Narses were welcomed. They called

72 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ISTRIA

the Greek Government " Sancta Respublica/' and
erected basilicas in gratitude for the freeing of the land
from the Arian Goths. Justinian re-established the
Roman constitution with certain alterations, among
which was the power of appeal to the court of the bishop,
which gave him control and surveillance over the
municipal functionaries. His power was not supreme,
however, the military defence of the frontier being
equally important. For some sixty years the ' ' Schism of
the Three Chapters" rent this part of Christendom, and
caused a great deal of ill-feeling and many question-
able actions. It arose from the Emperor Justinian in
544 condemning (i) the writings of Theodore, bishop of
Mopsnestia, who anticipated the heresy of Nestorius ;
(2) the writings of Theodoret, bishop of Cyrus, against
the twelve anathemas of S. Cyril of Alexandria, and the
decrees of the Council of Ephesus ; and (3) the letter of
Ibas, bishop of Edessa, to Maris the Persian. The Latin
Church, with Vigilius the pope at its head, declined to
accept the Imperial decree, which was in contradiction
to the Council of Chalcedon of 451. In 548 the pope,
while at Constantinople, was induced to repudiate
them ; but, on finding how strong the opposition was,
revoked his agreement in 550, and induced the emperor
to summon a council, which met in 553 and condemned
the three chapters and their authors. The pope
returned to Rome, and died there in 554, having con-
firmed the decision of the Council of Constantinople, and
anathematised those who refused to accept it. Not-
withstanding this, the bishops of Lombardy, Venice,
and Istria, with the Aquileian patriarch Macedonius
at their head, and other bishops, refused, and this
refusal produced the " Istrian schism/' or schism of
the " Tre Capitoli.,, Paulinus, who succeeded Mace-
donius, called a synod at Aquileia in 557, which
repudiated the decision of the Council of Constanti-

THE SCHISM OF THE THREE CHAPTERS 73

nople. Pelagius II., who was then pope, called in
the secular arm, but the descent of the Lombards in
568 stopped the discussion. Euphrasius of Parenzo
was one of the principal supporters of Macedonius, and
the pope did not hesitate to make the most disgraceful
charges against him. In 578 Paulinus transferred the
patriarchate to Grado, so putting himself under Byzan-
tine protection. Elias of Grado held the same opinions
as his predecessor, even excommunicating his adver-
saries. His successor, Severus, holding the same views,
Smaragdus the Exarch made an expedition to Grado
in 588, took Severus and the bishops of Parenzo and
Trieste to Ravenna, and kept them there in prison
for a twelvemonth, till they agreed to condemn the
three chapters. When they returned they found their
clergy would not go with them, so a synod was convened
at Marano, and there they revoked their condemnation.
Smaragdus, exarch again in 603, so arranged matters
that on the death of Severus (who had preached revolt)
Candidiano was appointed patriarch, a man who was
devoted to the papal authority, and who reconciled
himself with Rome, thus ending the schism. It had
caused grievous disorders, the bishops being sometimes
for and sometimes against it, and the clergy sometimes
in strife among themselves and sometimes with the
Patriarch of Grado ; but the mode in which it was
ended was quite as disgraceful as any of the deeds done
during its course. In 610 armed Byzantine soldiers
entered the basilicas and dragged three Istrian bishops
from the altars, with menaces and vituperation, com-
pelling them to accompany them to Grado, where they
were forced to bend to the Imperial commands and
reconsecrate Candidiano patriarch.

The Lombards re-established the patriarchate of
Aquileia, electing Abbot John, who was opposed to the
pope,' and thus there was a double patriarchate. The

74 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ISTRIA

Aquileian patriarchs only became reconciled to the
papacy in 698 when the Lombards had ceased to
be Arians. The Istrian bishops obeyed the Patri-
arch of Grado until the Council of Mantua (827), which
decided that they should return to Aquileia. Istria
was Lombard only from 751 to 788.

When Charlemagne conquered the country in 789
feudalism was substituted for the Roman autonomy
with the co-operation of the higher clergy. The Frank
duke was supreme, and his underlings had arbitrary
power. Public property was confiscated for the benefit
of the duke and his supporters, and all kinds of arbi-
trary and exorbitant imposts and restraints were imposed
upon the people, even to the prohibition of fishing ! The
result was great discontent, and at last, in 804, by the
intervention of Fortunatus, Patriarch of Grado, an
inquiry was held at Risano, the acts of which were
embodied in the " placito " of Risano. The envoys
of Charlemagne restored the communal property and
the jurisdiction over foreigners, exempted freemen
from servile tasks, suppressed arbitrary imposts, and
restored the tribunes and other Byzantine magistrates,
whom the people were allowed to select freely according
to the ancient custom. In 952 Istria became a German
fief by gift of Otho I. of Germany (who had conquered
Italy the year before) in feud to his brother Henry,
duke of Bavaria, together with Verona and Friuli.
Documents show the presence of large numbers of
persons of German origin during the tenth century ; but
the maritime cities, depending upon commerce, were
forced into connection with Venice by the necessity of
making arrangements for mutual defence against
Slav and Saracen Corsairs, and thus the foundations
were laid for the Republic's later supremacy.

Great part of the history of Istria relates to incur-
sions by the barbarians, either beaten off, or successful,

BARBARIANS AND PIRATES 75

with the destruction of towns, and the carrying off of
slaves and booty. The descent of the Lombards was
followed by a raid of the Avars in 599, but they were
beaten off. Three years later they came again in
company with Slavs and Lombards. In 611 the Huns
or Slovens descended on Istria,in 670 they were defeated
near Cividale by Duke Vetturi, and in 718 were con-
quered in three battles near Lauriana by Duke Pemmo.
His son Ratchis copied the bad example of the Huns,
sacking and killing far into Carniola. Between 620 and
630 the Serbo-Croats descended from the Carpathians
and crossed the Danube by suggestion of Heraclius,
driving the Avars from Dalmatia and taking their place.
The result of these constant barbarian raids was the
concentration of the population in the towns on the
sea-coast.

The pirates in the Adriatic were first the Narentans
and next the Saracens, who devastated the coasts of
Dalmatia in 840, fruitlessly besieging Ragusa for
fifteen months, and afterwards taking Taranto and
Bari. In 842 they defeated the Venetians at Taranto,
and, on the octave of Easter, took Ossero and burnt it.
They then passed on to Ancona and Adria, and as they
returned captured a whole Venetian squadron. In
876 the Slavs of Croatia and Dalmatia raided the
Istrian coast towns, but were defeated at Grado. The
Emperor Basil occupied Dalmatia in 8yy on the pretext
of Slav piracy. He gave the tribute from the Roman
cities of Dalmatia to the Croats and Narentans, so that
Spalato, Zara, Trau, Arbe, and the Byzantine cities
of Veglia and Ossero had to pay tribute to the Croats.
The successful expedition of Pietro Orseolo II. against
the Narentan pirates tended to the greater security
of the coast towns and strengthened the bond which
Venice was weaving.

In 933 a solemn treaty of peace was signed at

76 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ISTRIA

Rialto between Istria and Venice by the Marquis of
Istria, the bishops of Pola and Cittanova, two " loco-
positi," two - scabini," and twelve other trustees from
Pola, Capodistria, Muggia, and Pirano, there convened.
A fresh treaty was made in 977 with Capodistria, giving
Venice special advantages, and these negotiations were
carried on without reference to the Imperial authority,
the nominal feudal lord. Walking thus warily, avoid-
ing offence to the Emperor of Germany, Venice took
200 years of continuous political action to acquire the
Istrian cities. By 1145 Venice had obtained for her-
self liberty of commerce in most of the Istrian towns
and complete exemption from any kind of taxation ;
she had established at Pola and Capodistria a repre-
sentative, to look after the punctual execution of
treaties, and to protect Venetians from injustice, and
had also made the Istrian cities pay her a tribute,
either in money or products, obtaining also assistance
for her navy from them whenever it was fighting beyond
Zara and Ancona. The importance attached by
Venice to these concessions is proved by the triumph
which was given to the squadron ' of Morosini and
Gradonico when returning victorious from Istrian
waters. It was then that the doge assumed the title
of " dux totius Istriae,'' but the dates of the dedition of
the several cities are much later. The re-organisation
of the communes took place between 1150 and 1180.
The podesta had a council of assessors, the " consiglio
minore " ; the larger ™ consiglio del popolo " was
called together for the more important matters, such
as declaration of war, conclusion of peace, legislation,
imposition of taxes, election of podesta and consuls, &c. ;
while many documents show that the whole body of
citizens was summoned to a a parlamento " for the
publication of new laws, very important deliberations
requiring practical unanimity, the installation of fresh

COMMUNAL REGULATIONS 77

magistrates, &c. The " statute' ' was apparently
drawn up when a foreign podesta succeeded to native
consuls as an assertion of the ancient judicial custom.
That of Capodistria, the earliest, is of 1238-1239 ; that
of Pola, 1264. As soon as the communes began to
extend their work of domestic supervision a " fontico "
was established, a place where corn was sold at little
above cost price. Everything was supervised — the
time of vintage and of selling the new wine was fixed,
the amount of bread to be baked in each oven was
prescribed, the justices tasted the wine before the
taverners began to sell, cut off the tails of fish unsold
by the evening, and generally looked after the strict
fulfilment of the regulations affecting food. As the
vintage approached, the guards in the vineyards were
doubled, and, from August 3, dogs were tethered to
a stake to intimidate thieves. The prices of foreign
goods were fixed and, before commencing to sell,
merchants were obliged to expose their wares on the
quays or in the piazza for three days. Standard
measures were cut in stone in conspicuous places, and
at Albona the various imposts were carved on the
clock- tower in the piazza. Armed men were not
allowed to enter the cities, and the officials interested
themselves in everything going on, an example of
which may be quoted from Pirano. When S. Francesco
was built in 1301, the podesta carried the first stone
on his shoulder, and set it in the ground before the
assembled people. Venice succeeded the patriarch as
overlord of the Istrian communes in 1420, and after
this the history of Istria is merged in that of the
Republic.

The ravages of the plague were fearful, and practi-
cally depopulated the province, returning again and again
till 1 63 1. In the fourteenth century it decimated the
Brioni Islands ; no less than five Benedictine convents

78 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ISTRIA

were abandoned — three in Pola and one near Barbana
d'Arsia, as well as that on the Brioni Islands. In Muggia
an inscription states that half the population died in
1347. In I3^1 Ossero was so devastated that two
years later the bishop abandoned it and went to live in
Zara. In 1371 the country round Pola was so afflicted
that of seventy-two towns only eleven preserved their
names, the rest disappearing without leaving any trace.
In Cittanova in 1643 there were only ten inhabitants
left, the bishop abandoned it to live in Buie or Verten-
eglio, and in 1686, as there were not enough citizens to
constitute a council, they had to add strangers to make
a quorum. Angelo Morosini, podesta of Capodistria in
1646, described it as " Goddess of desolation and
refuge of solitude itself." Parenzo was so severely
smitten that only thirty persons remained. At Pola in
1 63 1 there were but 300 persons left, including the
garrison of foreigners, and of the citizens but three
families. This was the last visitation.

VII

MUGGIA TO PIRANO

From Trieste steamers, large and small, ply to most
of the places on the coast, and the islands down to
Fiume. Though there is railway communication with a
few places, travelling by water is much pleasanter in
fine weather, and the towns are more easily acces-
sible from the seaside. The country people throng to
market in the early hours of the morning, and are ready
to return by the time the average English tourist has
finished his breakfast and sets out sightseeing.

We went to Muggia about midday by one of the
little steamboats which round the Punta S. Andrea,
and, passing the Lloyd-Arsenal, cross the bay, the
Vallone di Muggia. The boat was full of belated con-
tadini, for the most part rugged and picturesque,
among whom was an old woman with a few long
candles, which she vainly offered for sale to every
person on the boat ; a boy with nuts and sweets was
more fortunate, and lessened his stock considerably.
The deck was lumbered up with baskets, milk-cans,
&c, which had been full in the early morning, and most
of the passengers had bundles and parcels containing
their purchases. Some thirty minutes were sufficient in
the fine weather with which we were favoured to take us
across, and, passing the smoky iron-works which are the
principal industry of modern Muggia, we disembarked
at the little quay, and immediately became objects of

MUGGIA TO PIRANO

interest to a small crowd of impertinent boys. Our
principal objective was the ancient church on the hill
where Muggia Vecchia once stood. We found on inquiry
that it was closed as being in a dangerous state. This
entailed visits to the municipio and to the parish priest,
under escort of a uniformed official, who then con-
ducted us by a steep and stony path up the hill Monte

WEST END OF THE CHURCH, MUGGIA VECCHIA

Michele, towards the summit of which, higher than the
church, prehistoric graves have been found, consisting
of stone slabs set roughly together, making a kind of
chest which opens on to the hillside. The church
stands amid fragments of ruined walls, the remains of
the town destroyed by the Genoese in 1354. To the
west is a stony space where wild irises grow and bloom
profusely in the crevices of the rocks, and from which

< --4

CHOIR-SCREEN AND AMBO, MUGGIA VECCHIA

To face page 81

MUGGIA VECCHIA 81

there is a fine view over the sea northwards to the high-
lands of the Karst. Between this flowery wilderness
and the church is an open grassy space enclosed by a
wall, and with a few trees round its edges, which was
probably the atrium. Opening upon this is the
narthex, an open portico level with the tower which
stands at the west end of the north aisle, with a stone
seat running round the wall. Two steps lead down
into the nave, and there is a door in the south aisle,
which has two windows, the clerestory having four ;
though on the north side, where the graveyard lies,
there are none. The building consists of a nave and
aisles divided by an arcade of five round arches upon
rectangular piers without caps, the two eastern bays
being enclosed by dwarf walls with framings of marble
slabs upon which interlacing patterns of the ninth
century are carved. They return across the ends of the
aisles, in each of which is an altar beneath a wagon
vault, though there is no apse. The central apse is
vaulted with a semi-dome, but does not show externally.
The choir is raised two steps above the nave, and the
altar is approached by a third. The ambo or pulpit
stands outside the screen on four columns, approached
by steep steps from within ; an octagonal column of
coloured marble supports a slab for a book-rest, facing
eastwards at the foot of the steps. In plan the ambo
somewhat resembles that at Grado, with six half-
colonnettes projecting from the curved form, two of
them terminating in heads on each side of the book-
rest, itself supported on an octagonal shaft which dies
into its underside with very flat vine or oak leaves
spread over the surface. The whole has been so
plentifully whitewashed that detail is nearly obliter-
ated, but there is sufficient difference between the styles
of various parts to make it probable that a recon-
struction took place at some period, older material

MUGGIA TO PIRANO

being employed to a great extent. The fact that two
of the bases have angle claws and are manifestly not
in their original position supports this theory. The
altar to the left is part of a Roman sarcophagus with a
funerary inscription in letters of the Imperial period :

c • IVLIO

NICOSTRATO

FILIO ' PIISSIMO

ANN ' XVIII ' M ' Villi * D * XII

IVLIVS * NICOSTRATVS.

PLAN OF PULPIT, MUGGIA VECCHIA

Upon the piers and walls are remains of paintings
of various dates. On the first pier to the left is S.
Catherine, vested as a Byzantine empress. Further
to the east are the Madonna "Blacherniotissa" and S.
Dominic, and near the ambo figures of the four Evan-
gelists ; the last apparently of the period of the founda-
tion of the church, the ninth or early tenth century.
On the last pier, which is broader than the others, and
suggests a later addition (perhaps in the thirteenth
century), is a gigantic S. Christopher, roughly painted,
and with the well-known inscription stating that whoso
looks at it will not die a sudden death that day. The

MUGGIA NUOVA 83

aisles have lean-to roofs, and the nave roof we found
shored up, the supporting timbers being wreathed with
garlands of artificial flowers. The dedication is to-
SS. Peter and Paul.

As we descended the hill our guide, observing that
flowers interested us, made a sudden dive through the
gate of a garden full of wallflowers and picked a bunch
for us, presenting it with as much grace as if they had
been his own ! a proceeding to which the rightful
owners appeared to have no objection. The more
modern town lay below us with its walls and towers,
some of them ruinous and some restored, and looked
picturesque enough except for the ancient castle which
has been turned into a modern house by its latest
purchaser, who has tried with more zeal than judg-
ment to copy the style of the older portions. Through
the postern by which we had left the town a number of
workmen from the iron-works straggled, grimy and
weary ; in their modern dress and employment marking
a contrast with their surroundings. Muggia Nuova
first appears in history in 1235. When Paganino
Doria destroyed Monticula (Muggia Vecchia) in 1354,
the port Vicuna Lauri (now Muggia) increased, and
twenty years later was surrounded with walls by the
Patriarch Marquand da Randeck after his triumphal
entry. It had nine square towers, a bastioned keep on
the east, and a barbican with unequal sides, which
covered the Porta a Mare, or of S. Rocco. Three other
gates, the Porta Grande, which faced to the country, the
Porta S. Francesco or Del Castello, and the Portizza,
which joined the Imperial road of Zaule with a draw-
bridge, added to the defences, and a chain closed the
port.

The nave of the church is of the eighteenth cen-
tury, the apse twelfth, and the facade of the fifteenth
century, with a wheel window of 1467 above the

84 MUGGIA TO PIRANO

west door, and a gable of an ogee-trefoil shape. In
the centre of the rose of sixteen rays is a little
relief of the Virgin and Child ; the tracery is like
that of the cathedral at Trieste. The door is square-
headed, with a cable moulding on the inner and a
dentil on the outer edge, and with a slightly ogee
tympanum above, in which are an enthroned God the
Father with Christ in His lap, two kneeling figures with
palms at the sides, and two little angels on the uprights
of the throne. On the architrave is an Agnus Dei.
Two windows, slightly ogee-headed, flank the door.
Coats of arms and inscriptions give the date. The
treasury contains a late Gothic ostensory with Re-
naissance patterns on the foot, a chalice which has
portions of several dates, and a seventeenth-century
processional cross. The contemporary municipal
palace is now made into dwelling-houses, though the
lion of S. Mark, with closed book and the date 1444, still
looks down from the wall, and the shapes of the windows
reveal a mediaeval building.

While we were on the hill the few children had
become a crowd, and our proceedings were much
hampered, although our friendly guard adopted very
rough measures more than once to keep them in order.
The people have always been turbulent and unruly,
and no doubt there is still an hereditary disposition
among them to resist authority, though one must
acknowledge that it was only among the young that
we ourselves observed it.

Muggia Vecchia is first mentioned in a diploma
of Ugo and Lothair, king of Italy, in 971, by which
the Castello was given to the church of Aquileia.
In 1202, when the Venetians were on their way to
the Holy Land, they subjected the coast towns
under the pretext of enforcing jthe patriarch's rights.
Doge Enrico Dandolo disembarked at Muggia with

HISTORY OF MUGGIA 85

part of his troops, and was received by clergy and
people with the ringing of bells. The citizens being
collected swore fealty and subjection to the Republic,
promising not to help pirates, and to pay each S.
Martin's Day twenty-five " orne " of good wine. From
this date till 1420 the city was ruled by a podesta elected
every six months by the council and confirmed by the
patriarch. There were three judges and several " an-
ziani," who formed the lesser council, to attend to daily
business. In the thirteenth century it had its own
statute, and at that time the commune paid a doctor,
a surgeon, and a schoolmaster. The crest is a turreted
castle, seen on the campanile of the old church borne
by two figures. It was sometimes under Venice and
sometimes under the patriarch till 1420. At one time
four noble hostages were confined for the latter in
Cividale, who were obliged to prove their presence
every day ; at another the procurator swore fealty to
Venice and received the standard of S. Mark with much
pomp. In 1371 the council decided to elect every year
two upright men who should do their best to settle
disputes and quarrels among the citizens, and in case
of failure to report to the council, when extraordinary
measures were to be taken. The next year Raffaello
Steno attacked the city at the head of the exiles and
killed many supporters of the patriarch, sacking their
houses and proscribing his followers ; and it was only
at the end of 1374 that he succeeded in retaking the
town, coming in person to do so. After his triumphal
entry in that year a castle was built to keep the people
in subjection, and a castellan with a garrison was left
in it ; but the town rebelled again in 1377.

Capodistria is at the head of the next bay to the
south-west, on rising ground which was once an island,
though now joined to the mainland. From the sea the
most conspicuous building is a great yellow prison.

S6 MUGGIA TO PIRANO

There is also a naval school there, the cadets from which
have to endure a certain amount of chaff when they
acknowledge having spent five years at Capodistria.
According to Dandolo the city was founded on the
island of Capraria, and named in honour of Justin II.
(565-578) Justinopolis ; the fact of its having been free
of money taxes during the Byzantine dominion makes
some such origin probable ; but it occupies the site of
the Roman colony of iEgida, founded in 128 B.C., and a
few antique fragments have been found, such as the
restored statue of Justice on the communal palace, a
Roman work of the Lower Empire, and the reliefs of
an ox and a female dancer encrusted in the wall of
a garden. In the church of S. Clemente there is also
a little round antique altar, used as a holy-water basin.
Under Pietro Orseolo a treaty was made between
Venice and Capodistria in 977, under which the hundred
amphoras of wine (which had been sent since 932 as an
annual present to the doge, and handed by him to the
Patriarch of Grado) wTere made obligatory and a per-
petual tribute, while a Venetian officer resided in Capo-
distria to look after it. Another stipulation was that
the city should always be at peace with Venice, even if
the rest of Istria were at war. The Venetian represen-
tative or consul had the right to sit with the Capodis-
trian judges whenever a Venetian had cause to appear
before them. In 1145, envoys had to go to Venice to
swear on the Gospels true and loyal fidelity to S. Mark,
the Doge Polano, and all his successors, and to the
commune of Venice, undertaking to renew the oath on
the election of each new doge. In 1186 the commune
was represented by a podesta and four consuls, the
year in which the bishopric was founded on the strength
of their promise to provide sufficient income. Eight
years later they were obliged to decree that if any one
did not pay his dues by the usual time he should have

THE FORTIFICATIONS, CAPODISTRIA 87

his vineyard taken away, and if the tithe of oil was not
paid by the Purification, it should be doubled. It was
the first Istrian city with a fully formed commune, and
the notice of the meeting of the council on July 5, 1186,
is the earliest notice preserved of such a meeting. The
first statute appears in 1238-1239.

When Venice had acquired the city the senate com-
manded Tommaso Gritti and Piero Gradenigo to build
Castel Leone ; it was constructed astride the road
which crossed the marshes, so that all travellers and
vehicles entering or leaving the city had to pass through
it. The walls, for which the Patriarch Gregorio Monte-
lungo was responsible, were damaged in 1278, when the
city swore fealty to Venice, and were thrown down on
the sea side after the insurrection of 1348. They were
not completely repaired till the sixteenth century. In
1550 Michele Sanmicheli, and subsequently his nephew
Alvise Brignoli and others were sent by the senate to
report, and finally the repair of the walls of many of
the Istrian towns was committed to Constantine and
Francesco Capi. A hundred years later they were in
such a state that Stefano Capello reported that it was
useless to guard the gates, for entrance was easy through
the ruinous part of the walls. The only portion now
remaining is the Porta della Muda, built by Sebastian
Contarini in the seventeenth century. It bears an
inscription of 1701 stating that the sea then no longer
flowed round it.

The Palazzo Comunale was burnt after the revolt of
1348, when the city had to surrender unconditionally,
the clergy carrying crosses, and the citizens in procession,
followed by the soldiers and the other foreigners, meet-
ing the army outside the gates. Fifty of the persons
most compromised were sent to Venice for trial, and the
city was punished by increase of taxation and modifi-
cation of some of the chapters of the statute. A few

88 MUGGIA TO PIRANO

years after it rebelled again, and was then deprived of all
municipal rights. The burnt portion of the palace was
ordered to be restored in 1353, but it had to be pulled
down afterwards, and in 1385 the senate gave orders to
the Podesta Leonardo Bembo to level it and rebuild. It
bears resemblance in some of its details to palaces of the
Bembo family in Venice. It was not completed till
1447, under Domenico Diedo. The right wing was
altered in 1481, and further damaging alterations were
made in 1664 by Vincenzo Bembo, who was so proud of
his work that he put up a pompous inscription. There
are numerous coats of arms of podestas and busts on
the facade, the earliest of which is dated 1432. Under
the portico were the " bocche del leone " for secret
denunciations, and, though the masks are gone, the
chests within are still in position.

At right angles to the Palazzo Comunale is the
cathedral, with the campanile projecting and flanking
the facade to the south. It has a ground story of
Gothic, three pointed arches, the central one pierced by
a doorway with clustered pillars, and figures beneath
niches above them, and an upper .story with classic
pilasters and cornice, the central space pierced by a
circular window. These are somewhat the characteris-
tics of the cathedral at Cividale, of which two Capodis-
trians, Bartolommeo Costa and Giovanni Sedula, were
architects. It was reconsecrated in 1445, but the upper
part was not finished till 1598. The side doors, with
beautiful arabesques carved on the jambs, were con-
structed with material from the tribune in which the big
Carpaccio was housed. It was destroyed in 1714 during
the restoration of the cathedral. There is a terra-cotta
medallion of Const antine Copronymus on the facade.
The present campanile is of 1480. The great bell was
cast in 1333 by two sons of the celebrated bell-founder,
Jacopo da Venezia. Under the bell-chamber of the older

PICTURES IN THE CATHEDRAL 89

campanile was an iron cage in which ecclesiastics guilty
of grievous crime were exposed, a punishment abolished
in 1497.

The interior of the church, considered the finest of
the period in Istria, was recast in 1741 by the Venetian
engineer Giorgio Massari. Under the last arch of the
nave to the right is a picture by Vittore Carpaccio,
signed and dated 15 16 — a Madonna and Child en-
throned upon a damask-hung seat raised on five steps,
which are covered with an Oriental carpet. Upon the
steps saints are ranged, SS. Jerome, Roch, and an old
man to the left — perhaps Zacchariah or Joseph ; SS.
Sebastian, George, and a bishop to the right — probably
S. Louis of Toulouse : at the bottom a little lute-
playing angel sits, flanked by two amorini on a lower
level with white drapery. The Virgin is seated in an
arched vestibule with a flat ceiling through which the
sky and trees are seen. It was restored in 1829.
Another picture from S. Nicolo near the port shows the
Virgin with SS. Nicholas of Bari and John the Baptist.
The organ wings were painted by Vittore' s son Benedetto
in 1538, and two other pictures of his are affixed to the
west wall. The subjects are the Slaughter of the Inno-
cents and the Presentation in the Temple. Other
pictures by him are a Coronation of the Virgin, in the
communal palace, signed and dated 1537, his earliest
known picture ; the Virgin between SS. James and
Bartholomew, 1538 ; and the town damaged by a sea-
storm. In Santa Anna is a picture of the Name of Jesus
adored by SS. Paul, John the Baptist, Francis, and Ber-
nardino, and surrounded by cherubs' heads. In the
communal palace an indifferent picture of the entrance
of a podesta escorted by the councillors (dated 15 17) is
ascribed to Vittore Carpaccio, who has been claimed as
a Capodistrian, as his son Benedetto certainly was. He
lived in the Largo di Porta S. Martino, in an old house

90 MUGGIA TO PIRANO

of two stories. In 1500 it was inhabited by the Scar-
paza family, and before that they possessed a little
farm in the locality called San Vittore ; but the Capodis-
trian tradition as to Vittore's birthplace is erroneous,
since he was born at Venice of a family of Mazzorbo,
record of which has been found by Signor Molmenti.
Lazzaro Sebastiani is also claimed as Capodistrian, and
memorials of two other painters exist, Cleriginus de
Justinopoli, who was living in 1471, and Giorgio Vin-
centi. A Mag. Domenico di Capodistria began the
pretty octagonal chapel at Vicovaro above Tivoli.

In the choir of the church of Santa Anna is a picture
by Cima da Conegliano in the original frame made by
Vittore da Feltre. In the central arched compartment
the Virgin sits enthroned with the Child on her knees and
angels at her sides ; on the steps below are two child
angels with mandoline and fiddle. The lower range of
panels has full-length figures of SS. Anna, Mary Mag-
dalene, Joachim, and Catherine. In the upper are
half-lengths of SS. Chiara, Francis, Jerome, and Nazario,
with Christ between SS. Peter and Andrew in the centre.
It has been restored. There is also an altar-frontal of
cut and gilded leather.

The lions from the ancient cathedral doors are now
in the atrium of the high-school. The ancient baptis-
tery is close to the north side of the cathedral ; it has
suffered Renaissance alteration inside, but outside still
shows the early arrangement of pilaster-strips and
corbel-tables. It is circular in plan, and has several
round-headed, unmoulded windows built up, as well as
a pointed-arched door with fourteenth-century shields
in the tympanum.

In the large piazza which stretches to the south-east
of the cathedral are two well-heads and the " fontico n
or place where corn was sold cheaply to the poor, a
building of 1432, restored in 1529, plentifully studded

MEDIAEVAL AND RENAISSANCE OBJECTS 91

with coats of arms. Opposite the Palazzo Comunale^is
the Loggia, now a cafe, built in 1464 for a literary
academy. It has seven pointed and traceried arches in
front and two at the side, a Madonna and Child decorates
the south-west angle,
and coats of arms are
between the windows
of the upper story.
Here the Compagnia
della Calza was insti-
tuted in 1478 in imita-
tion of that of Venice.
A few houses have
remains of late Gothic
painting, and in others
something of the
mediaeval arrangement
may still be seen. Upon
the Palazzo Tacco is a
very beautiful knocker,
ascribed to Sansovino,
now happily the pro-
perty of the commune ;
and the Casa del Bello
has a fine negro's head
as handle, rather worn
by use, and an elaborate
knocker, probably of
German work. The
Casa Borisi also has a
handle with the head and shoulders of a child emergent
from leaves, and a knocker of similar design.

In the cathedral treasury is a late fifteenth-century
silver-gilt chalice with elaborately worked knop and
stem ; on the knop are saints under canopies, and
angels with outspread wings emerge from scroll-work

KNOCKER ON PALAZZO TACCO, CAPODISTRIA

92 MUGGIA TO PIRANO

round the base of the cup. Also a monstrance of the
same period with very elaborate and beautiful archi-
tectural ornament and figures of angels in adoration.
In two elaborate silver-gilt crosses of the sixteenth
century there is a curious mixture of Gothic and Renais-
sance details.

There is also a Byzantine civil casket at Capodistria,
with traces of ancient gilding upon it. It has the
usual rosettes in the borders, and small plaques with
figure subjects. On the front there are three gods and
goddesses, separated by a repetition of the border
pattern. The handle and fastenings are later in date.

Just inside the Porta della Muda is the Piazza da
Ponte, so called after the Podesta Lorenzo da Ponte, who
in 1666 had the very curious fountain erected, in which
he imagined a further memorial of himself by the pun-
ning design of the bridge, so unsuitable for its position.
In front of the Palazzo Tacco is a column with a statue
of S. Giustina, set up to commemorate the battle of
Lepanto, at which Domenico di Tacco commanded a
ship fitted out at his own expense.

In the churches on Good Friday a crucifix was laid
on the chancel steps. Women and children knelt round
and kissed it. In one or two of them a dead Christ,
life-size and painted, was exhibited behind glass. There
was also the " tomba," a custom to which one is used
in Italy. A few men joined in the devotion. The Good
Friday procession is over half a mile long, and takes two
hours to get round the town, starting from the cathedral
west door at twilight. It is formed in great part of the
ancient confraternities (among which that of S. Maria is
mentioned as early as 1082), who carry some 200 imple-
ments and standards, torches, candelabra, wax tapers,
figures of saints, and lanterns. At the end of the pro-
cession a rich baldacchino is borne aloft above the priest
who carries the Host. " Mazzieri " (from the mace

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PIRANO 93

which they carry as sign of authority) keep order. Other
processions by daylight take place on Corpus Domini
and S. Nazario (June 19). The people have always been
fond of such displays, and till the seventeenth century
there was a great function at the departure of the rector,
who was solemnly bidden farewell by one of the syndics
or nobles in the cathedral. These Istrian coast towns
have always shown enlightenment in the matter of
education. In 1699 a school was opened in Capodistria
for the sons of citizens and patricians, in which Latin,
Greek, Italian, mathematics, rhetoric, and physics were
taught. And, in order that poor and talented young
men should not be cut off from the possibility of learn-
ing, this town, and, after its example, Isola, Muggia,
Parenzo, Pola, and Trieste established scholarships at
the University of Padua, where Istrian professors be-
came rectors. But, even in the fourteenth century,
there were already school teachers in Pirano, Muggia,
and Capodistria.

It is Pirano on its headland, with the cathedral
standing out against the sea, and with its crown of
battlemented towers among cypresses and other trees
which terminates the land as seen from the railway
descending from Nabresina to Trieste ; for, though
the Point of Salvore stretches actually farther out, it
is low, and does not catch the eye as Pirano does,
especially when its characteristic silhouette is empha-
sised by the blue shadow of a passing cloud. The head-
land upon which the cathedral is built, with its arched
buttresses below, hides the town, except for the forti-
fied cresting high above the trees ; but, when the point
is rounded and the harbour entered, one is tempted
to assert that there are few places so picturesque. The
quays are crowded with fishing-boats, which are backed
by the brilliantly white buildings. The green water
reflects boats, buildings, and sky with a bewildering

94 MUGGIA TO PIRANO

flashing and mingling of varied colours ; while, above the
houses of the Piazza Tartini, other houses and towers
climb to the battlemented walls which crown the hill
above a space filled with the grey of olives and green of
the grass beneath them. Within the town the streets
are narrow and often arched over, producing striking
effects of light and shade ; and there are external stairs
to some of the houses and many balconies.

It is an ancient town, and may have been founded by
Celtic immigrants, since the word " pyrn " (a possible
derivation for its name) means " top of the hill " in
Celtic. It certainly was inhabited in Roman times, for
the foundations of a Roman house have been found, as
well as inscriptions, bronzes, and other objects now pre-
served in the museums of Trieste, Parenzo, and Pola.
The names of a good many places near are of Roman
derivation, but the first definite mention of Pirano is
made by the anonymous Ravennese chronicler. In the
tenth century the Istrians attacked the possessions of
the Patriarch of Grado and of Venice, under the Marquis
Winter, who governed for Ugo, king of Italy. The doge
retaliated by prohibiting all commerce with Pirano,
Trieste, Muggia, Capodistria, Cittanova, and Pola, and
this soon brought them to their knees, finally resulting
in the treaty of 933.

A castle, the residence of the count or burgrave, was
built nearly opposite the cathedral, with a wall falling
sheer to the sea; this wall was still in existence in
1483, and was seen by Sanudo, but it was destroyed
soon after. Venice gradually laid a heavier hand on
this part of the eastern shore of the Adriatic, and,
though the citizens struggled to retain their independ-
ence, the year 1283 saw the dedition of Pirano. Yet it
always retained the right of displaying its own standard
of S. George in the Piazza by the side of that of S. Mark.
The existing bases for the support of these standards

MEDIEVAL WALLS 95

date from 1464 and 1466, and bear the figure of S.
George on one, and S. Mark's lion on the other, with the
arms of the podestas who ruled in those years. On
the base of the Venetian standard the measures of
length then in use are engraved. The standards for
measures of capacity were three hollows sunk in a stone
which once stood at the foot of the stair of the com-
munal palace. This palace was demolished in 1877. It
was a building erected in 1291, outside the circuit of the
walls as it then existed, " to show that a new spirit ought
to animate the citizens to forget their ancient divi-
sions/ ' as a chronicler says. From 1264 Venice practi-
cally had control of the government, being the principal
customer for the salt, which was (and is still) the chief
product of the place.

The city is an irregular triangle in plan, and is
divided into four sections, known as " Porte " — Porta
Muggia, Porta Domo, Porta Misana, and Porta Campo.
Walls enclosed each of these sections, which were
thrown down by Venice at the same time that many of
the nobles' towers were destroyed ; but some portions
remain here and there, utilised for the erection of later
houses. Round the " Punta," the most ancient part of
the city, are remains of early walls, thought to be late
Roman. The Venetians allowed only one wall for
protection, and the present towered portion, so con-
spicuous along the crest of the hill, was finished in 1488.
The suburb, the Borgo Marzana, which stretched along
the shore, was also enclosed within their circuit by 1533.
They recall those of Soave and Marostica in North Italy,
where the houses cluster round the piazza below, and the
hillside is covered with olives, through and above which
the line of battlements may be traced high above the
tops of the campanili. The harbour was once larger
than it now is, the Piazza Tartini occupying the site of
part of it. In 1320 the Venetians sent three engineers

96 MUGGIA TO PIRANO

to construct a port, but all that was done was to
strengthen the inner harbour as then existing. The
chain which closed it was replaced by a drawbridge in
1578, shown in a picture in the cathedral, but this was
demolished in 1894.

In 1379 the Genoese fleet of fifteen galleys demanded
the surrender of Pirano. Reply was made with cannon-
shots which sank three large ships, and the others sailed
away. It was the only Istrian city which thus repelled
the Genoese attack, and the incident is also interesting
as showing that the Venetians used bombards before
the war of Chioggia.

The statute is more ancient than those of most of
the neighbouring cities, and gives curious details as to
pains and penalties and municipal regulations. The
penalty for mutilation was a corresponding mutilation
unless the fine prescribed was paid. The making of
false money was punished with death. The false wit-
ness, if insolvent, lost his right nostril, and his name was
published as a perjurer on the stair of the communal
palace. He who destroyed the property of another lost
his right hand. But there was ho public executioner ;
and there are many records of the flight of guilty persons,
though an intention to make " the punishment fit the
crime " is evident. No one was allowed to build a house
close to the walls, and thatch was forbidden. A blas-
phemer was pilloried for a day (a list of illegal words
and phrases is attached to this section). Workmen were
forbidden to receive more than the wage prescribed,
butchers had to accept the price fixed for meat by the
justices, and the times and places for fishing were
specified. The commune had an inn " let to an honest
man," with six good beds, which he had to provide. No
one else was allowed to let rooms till 1469, when the
payment of a tax of three ducats a year entitled the
payer to a license. In 1484 interest on loans was fixed

FESTIVALS AND FUNERALS 97

at 20 per cent., and Jews were allowed to charge no more.
This people enjoyed considerable liberties, as in Venice,
and corresponding concessions were made to them.
With the establishment of a " Monte di Pieta " their
occupation was gone, and they migrated to Trieste. The
commune paid a chief bombardier, a captain of ordnance,
a palace chaplain, two doctors and a surgeon, a canon
of the Community, a master of arithmetic, a professor
of humanities and rhetoric, and a preacher for Lent.

An academy, called " Dei Virtuosi," was also sus-
tained at the public expense, and by it public festivals
were organised, with the accompaniment of decorations
and music, &c. The festival of Corpus Domini is still
celebrated with the hanging of cloths and paintings
on the walls of the houses, and with stretching awnings,
like the Florentine mediaeval " cieli," across the streets,
which are strewn with flowers and ornamented with
altars and fountains. Processions also still accompany
funerals and marriages, when garlands, flowers, and
confetti are thrown upon the cortege as it passes. The
banner and pall are black, with white embroidery, and
the members of a red-clothed confraternity attend the
funerals, bearing a crucifix and tapers. Many of them
are quite old men, and they raise a quavering chant as
they climb the steep ascent to the cathedral, which
is a late Renaissance building, and not interesting,
though finely placed. The campanile is an evident
copy of that of S. Mark at Venice.

In 1572, under an altar in the cathedral, a fine
Byzantine civil casket of ivory was found. Presented
in 1884 to the Emperor by the municipality, it is now in
the Court museum at Vienna. It has a sliding lid, the
usual borders of rosettes, and long panels of subjects
imitated from the antique. In the library above the
sacristy are several early paintings in carved and gilt
frames. The most important represents a long arcade

98 MUGGIA TO PIRANO

with four saints on each side of a broader central panel,
on which are the Virgin and Child enthroned. The
figures have small heads and meagre limbs. There is
also a Crucifixion, which, from its shape, was probably
the top panel of a large picture in compartments. These
are of the fourteenth century. A later example shows
four saints in trefoil-headed panels, with a cornice
above, composed of a seriesof shell-headed tops of niches.
These originally formed the doors of a cupboard. There
are also said to be a psalter and antiphonary of the four-
teenth century, and a Bull of Urban V. relating to the
Crusades of 1365. The ancient baptistery stood opposite
the cathedral, if one may trust the views in Carpaccio's
picture, and in one by Domenico Tintoretto in the town-
hall. The modern one is on the slope of the hill, just
below the campanile. It contains an early rectangular
font. On the side facing the door is a carving similar
to that on the font at Venzone — a naked youth astride
of a sea-monster, said to typify the control of the bodily
appetites by the reason. The other sides are much
damaged.

The other important church is that of S. Francesco,
which has a good early Renaissance doorway and a
cloister, some seventeenth-century carved chairs, several
Venetian pictures, and an early altar-piece. On the
facade a curious inscription is set in the wall, which
states that the church was dedicated onS. Mark's Eve,
1344, and that seven altars were then consecrated by
seven bishops — nine being mentioned, however —
Justinoplensis (Capodistria), Enonensis (Cittanova),
Parentinus, Polensis, Petenesinus (Pisino), Capiolensis,
Evelinensis (Buie), Domatensis, Soaralensis. The lion
of the church is, however, the fine Carpaccio in the chapel
to the left at the bottom of the nave, dated 1518, and
signed " Victoris Charpatii Veneti opus," considered by
some his best work. It represents the Virgin seated,

PICTURES BY THE TWO CARPACCIOS 99

and holding the Child to her breast. He has two
cherries in His left hand ; to His right are three saints
— S. Francis with a cross, S. George, and S. Louis of
Toulouse ; to the left, S. Anthony, Santa Chiara, and
S. Louis of France. At the feet of the Virgin are two
angels with lute and violin on each side of a pot of lilies ;
a pillared hall, with a view of Pirano in the distance,
forms the background. The chapel has pilasters with
very beautiful arabesques. The design of the architec-
ture and of the picture agrees perfectly, and it is evident
that it was intended that the painted architecture
should continue the effect of perspective, which com-
mences with the reality of carved and built-up marble.

In the office of the salt-works is a picture by Car-
paccio's son Benedetto, signed and dated 1541, which
came from S. Lucia di Val di Fasano. It shows the
Virgin seated with the Child in a little shirt, in the act of
blessing. On the left is S. Lucy, on the right S. George
standing, with their heads on the same level as the
Virgin, and therefore on a smaller scale. The throne
has a very shallow step. The figure of S. George is a
repetition of that by Benedetto's father in S. Francesco.

In the PiazzaTartini, near a fourteenth-century house
of Venetian Gothic, once the palace of the family of del
Bello, is a modern statue of Tartini the violinist (1692-
1770), who here commenced the study of music, which
led him to extraordinary executive triumphs and the
production of the celebrated " Trillo del diavolo."

Outside the walls, on the road to Porto Rose, are
the ruins of the monastery of S. Bernardino, founded in
1450 by S. Giovanni da Capistrano, to whom the ruined
convent on the island opposite Rovigno is also due. It
once possessed a Vivarini, a Madonna with a sleeping
Child, which was sent to Vienna in 1803. In the church
of S. George is a fragment of a carved stall with a figure
of the saint, which should be mentioned.

ioo MUGGIA TO PIRANO

The town of Salvore seems to "have been under the
jurisdiction of Pirano, and the commune held a fair there
on S. John the Baptist's Day, to celebrate the naval
battle in 1177, in which Frederick Barbarossa was con-
quered in the deep bay between it and Pirano. The
jousts, boat-races, and hunts which were held then and
on the feasts of Pentecost and S. Orligo were so sump-
tuous that the provveditore limited the expenditure.

The last boat for Trieste left Pirano at 1.30 p.m., an
hour so ridiculously early, that we determined to walk
to Isola and proceed thence by train. We started off
bravely up the steep road which led to the fifteenth-cen-
tury Porta di Raspo, obtaining fine views down the alleys
and through garden doors as we ascended the hill.
High above our heads the battlements towered, and as
we approached the walls we realised what a business it
must have been to attack a town so protected before the
invention of gunpowder. Soon the road bent away to
the right, which was not the direction in which we wished
to go, but a path led to some brick-works, and there we
found an idle workman, who advised us to go along the
shore as being much shorter. So we plunged and slid
about among rocks of a considerable size, and skirted
the base of slippery cliffs, and ploughed through sand
and shingle for some miles, rejoicing when we met the
road again in a flat piece of land where there were salt-
pans. From this point it made a long sweep inland and
then rose in wide curves up the shoulder of a hill which
divided us from Isola. Here we saw a train draw up to
take on board two gentlemen and a little boy ; there was
no sign of station or halting-place, and we wondered
whether all that was necessary was to stand by the line
and wave one's hand to the driver in order to be taken
up ! A stony path led us to the summit — another short
cut, which happily called for less exertion than our pre-
vious jaunt along the shore — and a charming view amply

ISOLA 101

repaid us for our labours. In the foreground the stony
path dropped between steep banks, the soil being oc-
cupied by vines and olives, with a little shrine perched
on one of the banks. In the middle distance Isola lay
like a jewel upon the sea, opalescent with delicate blue
shadows and the indescribable tints of grey stone build-
ings at a distance in sunlight ; with the campanile
crowning the slight elevation of the clustered houses.
Beyond were the horns of the Bay of Capodistria and
the highlands of the Julian Alps, blue in the shadow
of the declining sun. A few lighter houses scattered
along the peninsula served to soften the transition from
the grey town to the green country.

The town is at least as old as the beginning of the
eleventh century, for in 1041 it was ceded to the monas-
tery of Aquileia ; at this time it was probably unwalled,
for in 1 1 65 the Abbess Valpert a allowed the inhabitants
to remove to Monte Albuciano and build fresh houses
there, as they did not feel secure. After the dedition to
Venice in 1280 it was strengthened; but that did not pre-
vent a body of the patriarch's troops scaling the walls
and taking it on August 25, 1379, to be driven out a
few days after by the podestas of Capodistria, Pirano,
and Umago. Since 1411 it has been joined to the Capo-
distria road by a bridge, and no one would now sup-
pose that it was originally — as its name denotes — an
island. Nine square towers defended the walls, and the
principal gate was protected by a barbican. The ditch
was so useful to the people in peaceful times that the
commune threatened with severe penalties those who
went by night to deposit in it the refuse of their houses
and stables. No trace of these works now remains.

The Colleggiata is a late Renaissance building, but
contains some interesting things, including a picture by
Girolamo Santa Croce of the Madonna enthroned, with
SS. Nicholas and Joseph, and a child angel with a

102 MUGGIA TO PIRANO

violin on the plinth, signed and dated 1537, but re-
stored. The treasury contains a fine monstrance of
silver, Gothic in design, with bands of pierced work
and tabernacles at the sides on twisted columns. It
has a spire-like top with windows and pinnacles be-
tween round its base, a feature which is repeated on the
knop. In the seventeenth century several figures were
added or replaced and the stem repaired. The Scuola
dei Battuti, built in 1451, has a door with a frescoed
tympanum beneath a pointed arch on brackets, a good
deal weather-worn — Madonna sheltering the penitents
beneath her cloak — and pretty arabesque scrolls on
the soffit.

Isola is delightful from outside ; but inside there is
much dirt, and little food for the traveller. All that we
could obtain was bread and rough red wine. While
waiting for the train, as the sun set and twilight fell, we
saw many of the contadini returning from their work,
most of them on donkeys or ponies — a father with a
little son before or behind him, a man in a black cloak
with panniers laden with branches of trees, which hid
the saddle, and, in the semi-obscurity, made them look
like some monstrous beast of strange form, another
perched upon a great bundle of hay or grass, and so on,
all passing rapidly from the malaria of the fields to the
safety of the malodorous town.

It reminded one of the return of the townspeople
within the walls at nightfall necessitated by the medi-
aeval custom of closing the gates an hour after " Ave
Maria,' ' after which none could enter or leave the cities ;
and how the lamps of the shrines were the only illumina-
tion of the streets, about which none were allowed to go
without carrying a light.

In the train we had as fellow traveller an engineer
who spoke English well. He said that all over Istria
nothing could be obtained to eat (except, of course, in

DRAWBACKS 103

the more important towns). He had been constructing
a new line near Divaca, where nothing was obtainable,
and he and his companions had been obliged to take a
cook and all supplies with them. He appeared to have
a very bad opinion of the Triestines, whom he character-
ised as drunken swine, which we had not observed our-
selves. He said that beer was too dear for the majority,
so they got drunk on black wine and brandy — a state-
ment which sounded strange to our English ears. The
smaller boats, being for the use of the country people,
are very inconvenient for tourists, since they generally
start so as to arrive at Trieste early in the day, thus
allowing of return the same night with the purchases
made. Baedeker advises an excursion to Muggia and
on to Capodistria and Isola and Pirano, " returning by
boat in the evening " ; but the last boat from Pirano
leaves at 1.30 p.m., and the last one from Capodistria
at 4.0 (by which, by-the-bye, we paid twice as much as
we paid for the same journey in the morning), and after
that the traveller is dependent upon the little railway,
which lands him in Trieste after 10.0 p.m., at the
S. Andrea Station, rather late to obtain a meal.

VIII

UMAGO TO PARENZO

The next place along the coast, after passing the Pro-
montory of Salvore and turning south, is Umago. It
is sheltered behind a shoal, upon which the Chronicles
say that the ship laden with the relics of S. Mark struck
during a storm on its way to Venice. It was given as a
feud to the bishop of Trieste in 929, at Pavia, by Ugo
of Provence, king of Italy, and to the bishop of Citta-
nova in 1029 or 103& by the Emperor Conrad. It had
been sacked by the Slavs of Croatia and Dalmatia in
876, at the same time with Cittanova, Rovigno, and
Sipar (at which last place very early wall-paintings are
said to exist). It swore fealty to Venice in 1269 ; but
very little is known of its history, the English appar-
ently having burnt the archives in the piazza early in
the nineteenth century. At that period no one seems
to have thought that such things could be of any value ;
indeed at Portole, about 1850, the podesta actually sold
all the communal deeds to the grocer of the place,
thinking them useless rubbish, and at Cittanova the
parchments were used by the citizens to mend windows !
Cittanova lies at the mouth of the Quieto valley
which, commencing at Pinguente, passes Montona on
its isolated hill (visible from the coast like lofty Buie),
and terminates in a marsh seven or eight miles long. The
mouth is known as Porto Torre, from a little place on
the Parenzo side of the river. The city was a Roman

104

CITTANOVA 105

colony with the name ^Emonia, and the seat of an early
Istrian bishop. A few years ago some seventy carved
slabs of the eighth or ninth century were discovered face
downwards in the pavement of the crypt of the basilica,
which appear to have belonged to the font and choir
enclosure. Among them are several archivolt pieces,
very much like those of the font of Calixtus at Cividale,
which show by a mutilated inscription that they were
due to Bishop Maurizio, apparently a bishop suspected
of being on the side of the Franks, and therefore blinded
by the Byzantines in 781. The slabs are all of Istrian
stone, except one, which is of marble, and the carvings
therefore may possibly to some extent be of local
workmanship, though we know that Comacines from
Cividale were employed in Croatia. They have the
characteristic Lombard furrows and interweavings,
and other details met with in different parts of Italy.
There are no mouldings, but a slight bead and reel
along the interior edge of the arches. One slab shows
two birds drinking from a vase in the upper part, and,
below, two others apparently going to divide a fish —
at each side vine scrolls springing from vases ; another
is carved with figures of griffins. There are two
window-slabs with pierced patterns : one has simple
rhomboidal forms ; the other a central stem, with curling
branches terminating in trefoils of much more ad-
vanced type, suggesting the panels in the later tomb of
the Dogaressa Michieli in the atrium of S. Mark's,
Venice. The basilica was restored in 1409-1414, and in
the sixteenth century, with the assistance of Venice,
at i which time the baldacchino was destroyed. The
church stands on the edge of the land, and has a small
round-arched arcade on the facade divided by the door-
way, which is covered with a pointed hood on brackets.
In the gable is an oculus. The campanile resembles
S. Mark's, Venice, as is usual. Within, a Venetian Ma-

106 UMAGO TO PARENZO

donna and Child is preserved, Mantegnesque in style,
and therefore ascribed to Mantegna or John Bellini.
In the eighteenth century a picture by the latter was
sent to Venice to be restored, and, if this is the picture,
the restoration was very thorough. The baptistery,
destroyed in 1780, had a vestibule like that at
Concordia. It was octagonal, with four little round-
headed windows, and the hexagonal font was built
up from the floor, the rim being level with the top-
.most of the three steps which surrounded the building.
Three steps also descended into it.

The city swore fealty to Venice in 1270. It still
retains a portion of its ancient battlemented walls,
which have a curious feature — a projecting spur, which
runs out into the sea a long way, and was probably
intended to make the sea-front secure at low water.
The commune was very zealous in its preparations for
war, and, according to the statute, a citizen who
wounded or killed a spectator during military evolu-
tions or practice was able to secure immunity from
punishment !

In 1466 the see was divided from the patriarchate
of Venice by Paul II., Francesco Contarini being made
bishop, and was enriched by the gift of the property of
the suppressed bishopric of Equilium. Fifty years
before leave was granted to the then bishop to sell wine
grown in his vineyards outside the territory.

PARENZO

The next town along the coast, Parenzo, is celebrated
for its fine sixth-century cathedral, the pride of the
whole of Istria " the land of basilicas/ ' and is the head-
quarters of the Istrian Archaeological Society, several of
whose members have devoted much time and money to
the elucidation of the history, construction, and decora-
tion of the building.

The excavations undertaken by the late Monsignore
P. Deperis, Parroco Decano, showed that there have
been four main epochs of construction, as well as restora-
tions and embellishments : (i) Roman, or Early Chris-
tian, (2) Byzantine, (3) Gothic, and (4) Modern. There
was a primitive Christian basilica to the north of the
present one ; and Euphrasius, in the sixth century, built
his church upon the foundations of a second, which had
succeeded it. The site of the first was used as a ceme-
tery till the end of the eighteenth century, and was then
made into the garden of the bishop's palace. It was
oblong in shape, like the most ancient Christian
churches, and had no apse, being 75 ft. 6 in. long and
55 ft. 9 in. wide. It had one main door of entrance, and
the altar was at the eastern end of the northern portion.
The pavement is 5 ft. 9 in. below the level of the basilica
of Euphrasius. In the south wall of the portion first
discovered (one half of the total area) a door, the cill of
which is still preserved, led to an oratory. On the

107

108 PARENZO

mosaic pavement is this inscription in black letters on
a white ground :

[Lu]picinvs

[et PaJscASiA

[cum r]EVERENTiA FA[mula]

FE[cerunt pedes] c[entum].

The remains of this pavement are good in design and
execution, and the colours are well distributed. The
nave was surrounded by a broad white band, within
which was another still broader, sown with starred
crosses. The panels with subjects were also surrounded
by a similar band. In the first panel from the door is a
crown formed of a triple row of leaves within a double
circle ; the outer one has an octagon formed of me-
anders, and the inner a circular treatment of the same
kind. Outside are lilies and other flowers within geo-
metrical forms, and the whole is bordered with inter-
laced lines. In the small circle is a portion of an
inscription, the right part of which has been destroyed
by a tomb :

iNFAN[tius] -
et iNNOc[entia]
ex svo p[alatio]
BASi[licam et]

TEs[sellati]
p[edes].

The middle panel is square ; within it is a handled
crater with a high foot. Two branches spring from it,
which are bursting into flowers and leaves ; they fill the
whole space with their convolutions. At the top is an
inscription :

[Lu]picinvs et pascasia p[edes] cccc F[ecerunt] ;
and at the bottom another :

clamosvs mag pver et svccessa p[edes] c[entum]
felicissimvs cvm svis p[edes] c[entum].

THE EARLIEST CHURCH 109

This inscription is interesting as showing that there

SEslgaaBi — mEa&BBd 1

^^S.SSVV-v-^^qp;

M J I 1 I 'i »

ca.
2? basilvca.
Of>«rua$s ftlUd u|k.

PLAN OF THE THREE BASILICAS, PARENZO

was a school attached to the basilica before the fourth
century. The third panel surrounded the altar, the

no PARENZO

rectangle of which is marked by the sunken places in
the marble slab where the columns stood. A piece of
marble of the same size as the sinkings was found not
far away. At the right is a square of about 3 ft. 3 in.,
with a framing of white bands and triangles of colour
10 in. broad, reducing the internal square to 19 in. In
the centre is a portion of a cross based on the swa-
stika, and a fish. On the left a cross, formed by the
intersection of two oval rings, appears above the fish.
These symbolic crosses point to a very early date. The
doorstep of the oratory shows signs of considerable
wear, and the mosaic has been roughly repaired near the
word picinvs. The fishes are apparently insertions,
later in date than the original mosaic (which has the
structural characteristics of the second century). This
suggests that the first basilica may have been a portion
of the house of a Christian of position, of which ex-
amples occur in Rome. It was probably burnt when
Diocletian ordered the destruction of all Christian
churches in 303 a.d., since charcoal was found amongst
the masonry. The pavement, much broken up by
tombs and by the old cistern constructed in the garden,
extended under the north aisle of the present building ;
and the site of the altar is shown by lifting a trap-door
in the chapel in the north arm of the cross, for the
present basilica was made cruciform in plan ini.846-1847,
by the erection of two chapels. The mosaics found in
the garden have been completely excavated ; they are
covered over with glazed outhouses, and can be easily
seen. Later excavations made in 1900 have proved
that this first basilica had two equal naves, and remains
of a marble chancel recalled the phrase in the S. Maurus
inscription found beneath the high-altar in 1846 : " ideo
in honorem duplicatus est locus/ '

The second basilica was probably Const antinian.
The present one coincides with it, except that the apse

THE SECOND BASILICA in

is polygonal and projects towards the east, and that the
lines of the walls bend a little to the left from a line
drawn across between the modern chapels. The floor
of this basilica is about 2 ft. 9 in. below that of the
present one. The mosaic pavement is well preserved
nearly all over the surface ; and the sacristan opens
numerous trap-doors, and puts down tapers, to show
the most interesting portions. The cills of two of the
doors still remain 9 in. higher and much worn by
traffic ; the third was destroyed to place a sarcophagus
against the wall of the church. Between the two pave-
ment levels several unfinished caps and columns of lime-
stone were found, and also two pedestals and one base
among the foundations of the present nave arcade.

Beneath the presbytery is a choir and presbytery
of the form used in the most ancient Constantinian
basilicas. A sloping platform led up to the step upon
which the bishop's seat stood at the centre of the semi-
circle, flanked by seats on each side for presbyters, the
places being marked by red lines painted upon the fine
plaster which covers the low wall, rising about 8 in.
above the floor, itself 2 ft. 3 J in. above the level of that
of the nave. The diameter of the semicircle is about
18 ft., and it is floored with mosaic. Outside runs a
white band 6 in. wide, within which is a band of
ornament with two black lines at each side ; one of
them dentilled. This feature is 20 in. wide, with a
waving stem with volutes and leaves of ivy occupying
the central 12 in., black and grey on white. In the
centre of all are other black leaves and scrolls in red,
damaged by a mediaeval tomb. Three steps led down
to the choir, for the singers, sub-deacons, and deacons.
It has a plaster floor of a porphyry purple colour, and
reaches as far as the' third column of the present nave,
counting from the east. It was afterwards extended
on a lower level, reached by steps on each side, one of

ii2 PARENZO

which is still in place. The mosaic pavement of this
lower nave continues as far as a line which cuts across
the central apse, appearing outside the ends of the
aisles, as well as outside the semicircle of the pres-
bytery just described, as at S. Maria, Grado. The
presbytery wall is rough masonry, as if it had been
external, and there are no signs of its having been
decorated in any way ; but the oblong plan with the
apse some way within is found also at Salona, and in
Syria and North Africa. Traces of a wall parallel to
that of the north aisle, and beyond it, suggest the
existence of rooms to the north.

An excavation in front of the door of the sacristy
discovered a square mosaic on this level with inscrip-
tion—

THEOFRASTVS [et]

IANVARIVS DIAC

FEC * P * CCC

— which commenced beneath the chord of the existing
apse and terminated in a line with the end of the wall
of the earlier presbytery. West of it, and separated
by a smooth and even division, as if a wall or screen
had been there, mosaics previously discovered stretched
to the west door. On the south side a similar division
of the mosaic was found, a bit of a colonnette and a
few fragments as of a balustrade or cancellum. The
spaces thus marked off were probably prothesis and
diaconicon, the latter being to the left, where the two
deacons gave the pavement. In the left aisle were
five different designs given by as many donors. The
right aisle was simpler. In the nave an inscription
was found mentioning the Clamosus who was named
on the earlier pavement, but in conjunction with
Victorina, either his daughter or a second wife. This
proves that no great time intervened between the

MARBLE CAPITAL OF THE SIXTH CENTURY, PARENZO

To face page 113

THE PRESENT CATHEDRAL 113

erection of the second and the regular use of the first
basilica. The inscription found beneath the high-
altar, already referred to, mentions two churches, and
states that the first was repaired by the prayers of
S. Maurus, and that his body was transferred to that
place ; and calls him bishop and confessor. Till 1354
his relics remained there, when the Genoese admiral,
Pagano Doria, took them to Genoa as booty when he
had sacked the city, placing them in the abbey church
belonging to his family. The Marquis Doria soon
returned them. In mediaeval documents the district
of the city of Parenzo is called " territorio, terra di
S. Mauro/'

The present cathedral was erected by Euphrasius
between 531 and 542. This is proved by his mosaic
inscription, which states that " in the eleventh year
of his episcopate " (543) he had endowed it ; for the
endowment would naturally come after the building.
He found the second basilica likely to fall, with the
roof only kept up by chains. The columns are of
Greek cipollino, like those at S. Vitale, Spirito Santo,
S. Francesco, SS. Apollinare Nuovo and in Classe,
Ravenna, and in S. Maria, Pomposa, and were worked
by the same workmen in the Proconesos workshops :
for on columns at S. Vitale and Parenzo, and also at
Pomposa, are found the same mason's marks, mono-
grams uniting the letters IITE for Petrus and Iw
for Joannes. The bases are Attic, as at Ravenna and
SS. Sergius and Bacchus, Constantinople ; and, of the
eighteen caps in the nave, six are exactly similar to
those of the lower arcade of S. Vitale, several are like
others at Grado, two are like a damaged one at Pom-
posa, and others are much like some at Otranto and
Rome. At Venice, too, capitals of the same types
occur in considerable number. The super-abaci are
of Greek marble, with a circular plaque bearing the

ii4 PARENZO

monogram of Euphrasius. On the north the soffits
of the arches retain the original stucco ornaments, all
different ; on the south they have disappeared.

The mosaics in the apse closely resemble those of the
Arian baptistery at Ravenna in style. The figure of
S. Maurus might almost have been worked from the
cartoon of one of the Apostles there. In the centre of
the semi-dome is a figure of the Virgin with the Infant
Saviour, clothed in white and gold. Above, a hand
holding a crown emerges from clouds. On each side are
an angel and three large figures ; on the left are Arch-
bishop Claudius, Euphrasius the bishop, with a small
figure of his son, and S. Maurus, holding a jewelled
urn ; Euphrasius holds his church. The three figures
on the other side are unnamed ; one bears a book, and
the other two crowns. The ground is gold, and below,
at the springing of the dome, is the long dedicatory
inscription in gold letters on a blue ground. On the
wall below are mosaics between the windows. An
angel occupies the central pier, and on the piers on
either side is a saint, probably SS. Maurus and John
the Baptist. On the wide wall spaces beyond the
windows are the Annunciation on the north, and the
Salutation on the south. The soffit of the triumphal
arch has medallions of female saints within wreaths,
and at the summit an Agnus Dei. The lower part of
the wall is separated from the mosaics by an orna-
mental plaster moulding, and is decorated with a
remarkably fine series of panels in opus sectile, eight
designs in couples answering to each other on either
side, with a single design above the bishop's seat in
the centre, on which the monogram of Euphrasius
again occurs. The colours and materials used are
green and red porphyry, two blues, a green vitreous
paste, a dull-red marble, and a bluish-green marble
which has perished a good deal and is now preserved

OPUS SECTILE IN THE APSE, CATHEDRAL, PARENZO

To face page 114

MOSAICS AND OPUS SECTILE 115

under glass plates cut to fit the shapes, occasional spots
of a beautiful orange colour, like a marble used in
inlays at S. Vitale, a very dark blue, almost black, a
pale yellow-green, and a pale purple like chocolate
powder. The white is generally mother-of-pearl, or
marble, veined with a pale grey, and a good deal of
Oriental alabaster is used. The panel above the simple
bishop's throne has a hill, with a golden cross on a
green ground diapered with mother-of-pearl, and with
tall panels at the sides with the seven golden candle-
sticks. On a lower level than the throne a marble
seat runs round the apse, terminated by two slabs
carved with dolphins.

The architect, Signor Tommaso Natale, discovered a
mosaic above the triumphal arch a few years ago, which
had been hidden by the late Renaissance " improve-
ments/' It consisted of a long strip of gold, on which
the Apostles stood, clothed in white robes gemmed with
crosses, six on each side of a central figure of Christ,
robed in purple and seated on the globe. He has a
cruciferous nimbus, and is blessing with the right hand,
whilst with the left He holds an open book inscribed
" ego svm lvx vera." On the right are S. Peter with the
keys, S. Andrew with a book, S. James with a crown,
SS. Bartholomew and Thomas with books, and S. Simon
with a crown ; on the left S. Paul with two scrolls,
S. John with a crown, SS. Philip and Matthew with
books, S. James Alpheus with a crown, and S. Jude with
a book. The names are inscribed above the figures, and
a band of dark red with golden gems surrounds the
whole. The heads of Christ and SS. Bartholomew and
Matthew were damaged by brackets belonging to the
roof. The whole of these mosaics have been restored
by a Roman mosaicist, Signor Bornia.

The altar of Euphrasius was retained till the time
of Bishop Folcherius (1208-1220), who substituted a

u6 PARENZO

larger one to contain more relics. A few years after,
Bishop Adalpert raised the level of the choir about
eight inches, and the altar to correspond, reconsecrating
it May 8, 1233. The present ciborium was put up in
1277 by Bishop Otho, using the old columns and caps.
It has slightly pointed arches, with Venetian dentil
borderings, and mosaics in the spandrils. On the west
side is the Annunciation, and on the other three sides
heads of saints in circles ; the vault is also covered with
mosaic. A long inscription in Lombardic letters gives
the date and the name of the donor.

The pala was made in 1452, and cost 600 ducats
of gold, half of which the commune contributed by
selling useless church objects, while half was paid by
Bishop Giovanni, a Parentine by birth. It is a fine
work in the style of the early Renaissance, with a
Virgin and Child in the centre, S. Mark to the right, and
S. Peter to the left, and outside of them a bishop with
an elaborate crozier, and a deacon holding a model of
the town — SS. Maurus and Eleutherius. The figures
are within classical niches, the sides of which vanish
in perspective towards the central point. Along the
cornice runs a series of small medallions with busts
of the Apostles. In the chapel of the Sacrament are
some stalls to which the same date (1452) is given.
They are quite Gothic as to the ornament and structure,
and even the figures present considerable contrast
with those of the pala. There are five seats with
backs, canopy, and ends at each side of the altar.
At each end are well-executed figures among foliage
scrolls, which are out of scale — on one side, a
Virgin and Child and a bishop ; on the other, two saints,
one of whom is an ecclesiastic. The uprights between
the seats are faced with twisted colonnettes, and the
backs have a quatrefoil pattern made by cutting the
bars of a rectangular framing ornamentally.

HIGH-ALTAR, PARENZO, FROM THE SOUTH AISLE

To face page tt6

TREASURES OF THE CATHEDRAL 117

In the sacristy is a picture by Antonio da Murano
in the original frame.
Both frame and pic-
ture are in a bad
state, the gesso
having scaled off
in places. In the
centre is the
Madonna and Child,
flanked by two full-
length saints on
each side, SS. Fran-
cis and Nicholas,
S. Simeon, and
another male saint ;
above the Virgin is
a half-length of the
dead Christ ; and,
above the other
saints, half-lengths
of SS. Mary Mag-
dalene and Christo-
pher, Catherine and
Anthony. It is
signed " Antonius
de Muriano, 1448. "
In the treasury is a
Greek Benedictional
cross, with subjects
carved in wood,
and a silver-gilt
enamelled case.
There are five sub-
jects On each face, GREEK benedictional cross, parenzo

well carved and traditional in their design. On one
side is the Annunciation at the top ; in the centre,

u8 PARENZO

the Baptism, with angels assisting ; at each end, an
Evangelist seated ; below, Christ as Judge between two
saints, and at His feet men in the abyss. On the other
side is the Presentation in the Temple at the top ; in
the centre, the Crucifixion, with the thieves, the Virgin,
and holy women. Two Evangelists are seated in the
arms, and below is either the Resurrection, or the
Harrowing of Hell. The case has jewels and pearls
inserted plentifully, and is decorated with floral
enamelled ornament in green, blue, and red enamel.
It is made to take to pieces. The handle bears the
name of the maker, " Ezechiel, monk of the monastery
of Laura." It is ascribed to the thirteenth century,
but is very like those at Kloster Savina in the Bocche,
which are seventeenth-century, the character of the
floral design agreeing well with that period.

In 1847 Bishop Peteani made considerable altera-
tions, which included the re-arrangement of the high-
altar to face the east ; and at that time the relics of
SS. Julian and Demetrius were found in a square chest
of white marble inscribed with the date of consecration
and the name of the maker, Adalpert. The ambo in
the right aisle, made up of columns and carved slabs
of the sixth century, is due to him, as are the chapels
to right and left of the nave. The present pavement
was laid down in 1880, when some inscriptions of the
Euphrasian period were removed to the baptistery.
The triapsidal chapel, entered through an elliptical ante-
room, beyond the sacristy, was probably a relic chapel,
and is of the sixth century — a mosaic of that date was
found here five feet below the surface ; but the vaulted
passage by which it is approached is of the thirteenth
century, while the superstructure of the chapel is
Venetian, added to assist in the defence of the place
from this side, for the sea is quite close. To the east of
the city towards Torre Nuova a Christian cemetery was

THE ATRIUM AND WESTERN FACADE, CATHEDRAL, PARENZO

To face page 119

THE ATRIUM AND FACADE 119

discovered in 1893 close to the road, consisting of three
little apsed buildings close together, a larger one with
a small one contiguous, with buildings belonging to the
original villa which occupied that site at the end of
the first or beginning of the second century. A coin of
Vespasian was found at the time, and a ring with
a palm engraved on it. There are several tombs of
the kind in Rome belonging to the fourth century.
The mosaics found in the fifth building are now in the
baptistery. It is believed that these buildings were
memorial chapels erected over the tombs of the Paren-
tine martyrs, and that the greater part of the materials
was used in the erection of the church of S. Eleutherius
near, after the translation of the relics to the cathedral.
The plan of the atrium of the cathedral is Roman,
not Byzantine like those at Grado, Ravenna, and Con-
stantinople, which have a portico and the baptistery
at the side, separate from the basilica. In this case
the pavement of the atrium was seven or eight inches
above that of the narthex. Along the facade a herring-
bone pattern pavement of white and red tesserae was
found which continued farther to the north. The
gable of the church was decorated with mosaic ; be-
tween the windows the seven Apocalyptic candlesticks
were represented, and there were figures at the sides,
all within a containing border. This has been restored.
Above, in the centre, the feet of a figure of Christ
seated on the globe may be traced, and folds of the
draperies of figures at the sides. Scarcely any of the
tesserae remain, but the lights of the drawing appear
in relief. A certain test of the age of the different
parts of the building is afforded by the quality of the
mortar used. By this it is proved that the eastern
apse is due purely to Euphrasius, the foundations being
set in mortar of the kind used by him ; and also that
he kept the atrium pretty much as it was, only adding

120 PARENZO

the columns with Byzantine caps. The baptistery on
the other side also was very little altered. It had a
floor of stucco, and was circular internally ; enough was
found between the campanile and the door from the
piazza into the atrium to develop the whole curve.
Euphrasius made it octagonal, and surrounded the font
with marble slabs, the marks of which still remain ; a
few fragments were found, together with some gilded
and coloured tesserae, showing that it had mosaic
enrichments. It is now used to store discarded
portions of the early buildings. Here is the Euphrasian
altar, standing on a slab of marble with sunk squares
in the corners for the bases of the ciborium columns,
and enough panels and colonnettes to make a restora-
tion of the chancel of the choir, though it is equally
likely that they belonged to a baldacchino above the
font, similar to that which still exists at Cividale, and
once existed at Pola and at Cittanova. Here are also
two caps from the fourth-century church, fragments of
mosaic pavement found in mediaeval tombs, and a good
many pieces of eighth and ninth-century carving.

The survival of the Constantinian plan is explained
by the slight alterations made by Euphrasius. The
walled-up doors in the baptistery show that it was not
an isolated building. They probably gave entrance to
dressing-rooms for the two sexes attached to it, waiting-
rooms for the baptized and their relations, &c. ; and
an arch of the fourth century, near to v/hich the herring-
bone pavement runs, was probably the entrance to a
portico joining the basilica with the baptistery or the
consignatorium, where the bishop anointed the neo-
phytes directly after baptism, before they made their
solemn entry into the church. This latter building still
exists as the " cantina " of the bishop's palace — a true
basilica, with a nave almost square, and with a double-
walled apse on the north, and corridors east and west,

EASTER EVE CEREMONIAL 121

approached on the south side by a portico. In front
was an oblong court. The walls are all of Roman
work, and the outer apse has an arcade on pilasters,
with large arched windows. A few years ago repairs
to the roof led to the discovery of windows in the inner
apse. The work round the doors is Euphrasian. The
corridors were spanned by arches, which are now built
up, and thus make small rooms. There was a second
story, which was the bishop's palace ; but the second
floor of the west wing is mediaeval, and it is probable
that the great hall was made at that period by dividing
the basilica horizontally on the level of the second
story. After the custom of anointing the newly
baptized in the const gnatorium was abandoned, it
became the chapel of S. Nicolo, then of S. Mary Mag-
dalene, and the original use was quite forgotten. The
campanile is of the fifteenth century and uninteresting.
It was Easter Eve on the occasion of our first visit
to Parenzo, and while we were studying the architecture
women were constantly bringing their Easter cakes
and other food to be blessed at the altar of S. Maurus
in the north aisle. Later there was a Resurrection
service with a fine procession, with many men and boys
robed in scarlet carrying long candles. A crucifer in
purple bore the capitular cross, followed by canons in
violet and other officials, the bishop's coachman in a
long blue buttoned coat, two little acolytes in sur-
plices, with cloths embroidered with crosses on their
shoulders and censers, deacons in dalmatics of cloth of
gold, a suffragan bishop in cope of cloth of gold and a
white mitre, and the bishop similarly robed. A large
painted flag of red silk was carried in the procession,
and two small painted figures of our Lord, one on
the cross, and the other, a half-length, emergent from
the tomb. The bishop, fully robed, went first into the
capitular chapel and then to the chapel of the Holy

122 PARENZO

Sacrament, where the dead Christ was laid out in a
tomb, took the Host and brought it out, being then
bareheaded beneath a canopy. The procession then
filed out into the atrium, leaving it by the bishop's door
at the side of the baptistery, and, passing through the
street, regained the atrium by the usual entrance.
The Host was then placed on the high-altar, and a kind
of benediction service held, in which a fine bass sang
several solos. The church was thronged by a devout
crowd of both sexes and all classes.

The city was called " Julia Parentium " under the
Romans, from the colony of legionaries sent by Au-
gustus. The tribute to Rome was as much as that
paid by Pola, the capital of the province. There were
temples to Mars and Neptune, of which there are some
remains, drums of a few of the columns and a portion
of the podium and steps, now used as the lower courses
of poor houses. The buildings were destroyed in the
fifteenth century, the materials being used to construct
the quay. The main street leading from this part of
the town to the Porta a Terra may. be the Via Decu-
mana of a Roman camp. The site of the amphi-
theatre is indicated by the curved line of the houses
built on its foundations, but there are no remains of
Roman work visible. Reliefs of the tenth century are
encrusted in the wall of a house on the site of the
ancient church of S. Peter ; and the Casa dei Santi in
the Via Predol, which probably occupies part of the
area of the convent and church of S. Cassiano, has two
figures on brackets between the windows of the first
floor, apparently late eleventh-century work. The
Canonica, built in 125 1, a fine piece of Romanesque
domestic architecture, has six two-light windows on
the first floor, and shell-headed niches round the door,
with a cross and inscriptions. It was burnt in 1488,
and in the eighteenth century was converted by the

MEDIEVAL BUILDINGS 123

chapter into a store for the tithes of wine, corn, oil, and
fruit, but has been restored, together with the adjoining
entrance to the atrium. There are several Venetian
palaces in the main street. One, of the fourteenth
century, is especially fine. It has big cable string-
courses and brackets of lions' heads and necks, and a
large and imposing window on the first floor.

There have been three enceintes : (a) Roman ; (b)
that completed about 1250 under Patriarch Warner of
Gillach ; (c) a third commenced in the fifteenth century
on the same lines, but a little larger. In the eighteenth
century the circuit of the walls was about a mile.
There were two principal gates — the Porta a Mare and
the Porta a Terra — and two posterns made for the
convenience of the inhabitants. The city was divided
into four Rioni — Pusterla, Porta Nuova, Marafor, and
Predol. The existing square tower flanking the Porta
a Terra was erected in 1447 under Nicolo Lion ; he
signs it with initials, and there is a coat of arms be-
neath the panel of the lion of S. Mark. At the bottom
of the frame are the date and an inscription giving the
name of the architect, " Mag. Johannes de Pari Ter-
gestinus," and of his son Lazarus, the sculptor. His
name occurs on the architrave of the rebuilt church of
S. John the Baptist of Volciana on the Carso, with the
date 1429. The round tower dates from after the in-
cursion of the Turks into the Carso in 1470, built under
Pietro da Mula, 1474. On the Porta della Campana
the length of the dagger which was allowed is marked,
and the town still preserves one of the " Bocche de'
leoni " which were used for secret denunciations. The
communal palace was built in 1270, one year before
Parenzo gave herself to Venice. Games of cards and
dice were allowed under its portico and in the loggia,
where the players were under the eyes of the guards.

During the latter half of the thirteenth century

I24 PARENZO

Parenzo was in constant contest with her bishop, re-
sisting the financial demands of the ecclesiastical
authority with threats and violence. A podesta, at
the head of the people, broke into the cathedral, burst
open the treasury, and seized the precious objects. In
1270 Marco Michiel, in the name of the commune,
forbad the citizens to pay tithe, proclaimed liberty of
fishing and pasturage, and took possession of several
of the church properties, saying that they had returned
to those to whom they properly belonged. In 1278
Bishop Otho excommunicated them for refusing to pay
tithe, and because of a rising, in which the palace was
invaded and all the authentic privileges and documents
thrown into the sea ; but the citizens were the stronger,
and bishop and canons were driven away from the city.
In 1280 there was a delimitation of the land belonging
to church and commune. The next bishop, Boniface,
renewed the episcopal pretensions denying freehold to
both commune and individual citizens. The podesta,
Jacopo Soranzo, the commune, and citizens were so
enraged that the bishop, in fear of his life, fled to
Rovigno, and from thence to Venice. The podesta
lodged soldiers in his palace during the war ; and in 1284
Boniface fulminated a comprehensive excommunica-
tion from Venice against podesta and city. Matters
were arranged and he returned to Parenzo, but only
to renew his claims. In 1293 the podesta, Jacopo
Querini, was disputing with him over a feud at Cervera
which he claimed, though it had been in the possession
of others for eighty years, and both lost their tempers.
The podesta turned to the bishop and said : " I promise
you that when my term of office is over I will do you
all the harm I can, both publicly and privately ; and I
pray God and His saints to let me live long enough to
see with my own eyes the prophecies fulfilled of the
destruction of the Church of Rome, for one may well

VIOLENT DISSENSIONS 125

see that the time is near." On September 14, 1296,
the podesta, Giovanni Soranzo, attacked the bishop's
palace at the head of the armed populace, intending,
as the bishop asserted, to kill him. The prelate took
refuge in the Franciscan convent, and escaped by
ship to Pirano. Thence he went again to Venice, and
excommunicated the whole of his opponents. The
podesta threatened to cut off hand and foot from who-
ever published or executed the ban ; and Boniface
ordered the prepositum of Pisino to send it to the
clergy, which was done next year, but without the
desired effect. He acted in the same way with other
podestas, and was often absent from his seat in conse-
quence, thus incurring reproofs from the patriarchs
Raimondo and Pietro Gerra. The latter went so far
as to attack and destroy the castle of Orsera, where
the bishop took refuge.

The people of Parenzo now are more concerned with
developing their commerce than with insisting upon
their rights, and the quay presents a busy scene when
the wine-boats are lading. The casks are so large that
two are a load for a yoke of oxen. The cart has sloping
sides, and a bed of fresh-cut boughs and hay acts as
springs. One of the sides of the cart (of wicker or
staves) is removed at the quay, and the casks are rolled
down an inclined plane. There were much excitement
and some danger as the lumbering weight was turned
at right angles to its former course, which was towards
the water. The fishermen were busy too ; they catch
spider-crabs with long spears ending in five prongs, at
right angles to the shaft, and forming a kind of cage,
which the crabs find it difficult to negotiate when they
are raked out of the crannies of the rocks. There was
a semi-lunar implement in the boats also, with four
internal prongs, at the end of a long shaft, used for
catching cuttle-fish.

126 PARENZO

At the hotel in which we stayed on our first visit
there was a green-and-yellow parrot which was very
tame. His accomplishments included the saying
" Marietta, padrona, and bello " quite clearly, singing
and laughing. Its mistress made it flirt with a highly
coloured young lady on a poster in a very diverting
fashion. At Fiume we saw two parrots of the same
kind on perches outside a shop ; and my friend, recollect-
ing the friendly bird at Parenzo, made overtures to
them, which were not received in the proper spirit, and
I am sorry to say that his finger was sore for days
after.

There is record of a joust held at Parenzo as late
as February 14, 1745. There must have been diverting
incidents on that occasion, since the combatants
contended with unfamiliar weapons which had been
long out of use !

Parenzo is poor in records of craftsmen, and its
only artist of repute is Bernardo of Parenzo, who was
much employed in his day ; pictures by him are pre-
served in the Accademia at Venice, the Doria Gallery,
Rome, in the Louvre, and at Modena. He studied at
Padua with Mantegna, under Squarcione, and executed
frescoes and chiaroscuro arabesques in the cloister of
S. Giustina in that city. When the Austrians con-
verted the convent to military uses the paintings were
plastered over, and, although again uncovered in 1895,
they were found to be in a much damaged condition.
Bernardo died in 153 1.

TO POLA BY SEA

From Parenzo Pola may be reached either by land or
sea, the latter being the more convenient way. The
only place of importance passed is Rovigno, though the
Canal di Leme, an arm of the sea 7J miles long, from
70 to 100 ft. deep, and some 500 yds. broad, which
affords accommodation for much more shipping than
ever makes use of it, leads up towards Due Castelli,
now ruinous, but at one time a thriving and important
town. On the way, near Orsera, the little island of
" Scoglio Orlandino " is passed, rocky and divided
into two portions by a chasm or crack. Legend says
that Orlando, passing that way, made a slash at it
and left it as it now is.

Rovigno is thought to be the ancient Arupenum or
Rubinum, but is first mentioned by the anonymous
Ravennese chronicler, and was probably founded in
the third or fourth century. In the walls of the
principal church are fragments of sixth-century work.
There is a tradition that it was founded when Cissa
sank into the sea in the seventh century. The site of
this city was near the modern lighthouse, and remains
of its buildings are believed to be recognisable beneath
the water at the point called Barbariga, on the further
side of the Bay of S. Pelagio. The large beds of murex
shells in certain places are an indication that there
were purple dye-works here, an industry for which

127

128 TO POLA BY SEA

Cissa was celebrated. Rovigno is situated upon a rock,
and was surrounded with walls. Within their area
the houses, as seen from the sea or from the railway
station behind the town, seem to be piled one over the
other, and culminate very picturesquely in the cam-
panile at the top. Beyond the railway station on the
Bay of S. Pelagio are the Berlin aquarium for the study
of the marine fauna of the Adriatic, and a sanatorium
for scrofulous children, opened in 1888. The neigh-
bourhood being fever-stricken the peasants live in
the city, going and returning to their work morning
and evening. Their Sunday costume consists of orna-
mented leather shoes, tight white hose of wool, a broad-
sleeved white shirt with a frill in front, dark waistcoat,
and flat black cap. They have the curious custom of
wearing one large earring in the left ear. Rovigno is
a good market for wine — considered the best in Istria —
olives, sardines, and hazel-nuts which are reputed the
finest in the world. Consequently, amongst the in-
habitants are many merchants, and the fishers' guild
is very numerous; but the steep - streets are narrow
and, in wet weather, noisome, and the children do not
look as healthy as in many other places. During our
stay we saw two funerals in the Colleggiata within a
few hours, both attended by a red-robed confraternity
which included boys and men. The spectacle in the
darkening nave (for it was late afternoon) of the two
rows of red-robed figures holding lighted tapers, with
two or three ensigns or symbols in the background,
was impressive, but marred by atrocious singing. The
officiating priest was a fine man ; and, as the cortege
departed to the cemetery just below the church on the
seaward side, there was an impression of solemnity
which is often lacking in English funerals. A few late
Venetian palaces, with fine loggias at the top to catch
the sea-breezes, show above the other houses, and the

ROVIGNO 129

arch between the fish-market and the Piazza S. Da-
miano, erected in 1680 under Daniele Balbi, still stands,
with the Venetian lion holding a book proudly in-
scribed : " Victoria tibi Marce Evangelista meus " ; but
the walls have entirely disappeared, with the exception
of one ruinous tower, the " Torre del Boraso," which
has been in that state since the sixteenth century. At
the beginning of the fourteenth century it belonged
to the bishop of Pola ; the Colleggio dei Cinque Savi
acquired it in 1332, and ordered its occupation by the
captain of the Pasenatico and the podesta of Rovigno,
asking whether it was best to preserve or destroy it,
the former course being determined on.

A curious heptagonal building, the Oratory of the
Trinity, which stands some distance outside the ancient
walls, appears to be rather early in date. It has a
polygonal drum rising from the roof of the lower portion,
and two curious little pierced and carved windows about
three feet high ; one of them is too much broken to
make out the design. The other has a crucifix with
half-length figures, and consecration cross among the
piercings, very roughly cut. The head is slightly
pointed. The Colleggiata has been rebuilt in late
Renaissance style ; and the campanile, crowned by a
figure of S. Eufemia, the patron saint of the town, is a
copy of that of S. Mark's, Venice. The chapel to the
right of the high-altar contains the shrine of the saint,
a large unfinished sarcophagus of Greek marble. It
has two arches on the side with figures scarcely begun,
and an octagonal tablet with curved sides in the
middle. The legend is that the body of the saint
floated over the waves in the great sarcophagus, and
was driven by a storm into a little inlet called the
" Armo di S. Eufemia," a short way from the pier,
where a square pillar with an inscription of 1720 and
the communal arms marks the place where it grounded.

130

TO POLA BY SEA

Some fishers who went out at dawn were attracted by
the miraculous light which shone around it. Several
days passed before the heavy sarcophagus could be
moved. A certain pious widow, with the suggestive
name of " Astuta," had a dream, as a consequence of
which a pair of bullocks was yoked to it by her little
son, and so it went up the hill to the summit at such a

SARCOPHAGUS OF S. EUFEMIA, ROVIGNO

rate as to run over one of the bystanders, who was
nearly killed, and fainted. When he revived he re-
vealed the name of the saint, and her bones were found
within the sarcophagus together with the history of
her martyrdom. From that time the hill has had the
name of S. Eufemia. The relics were taken by the
Genoese in 1380 and carried to Chioggia. The Vene-

PIRATE RAIDS 131

tians rescued them, but carried them to S. Canciano,
Venice, where they stayed for thirty years. On their
return to Rovigno in 1410 a storm drove the ship to
the salt-works in the Canal di Leme, where certain
cattle-boats were sheltering. The cattle jumped into
the water and danced round the ship ! So, at least,
a manuscript in the capitular archives relates. Scenes
from this legend are painted on the walls of the chapel.
In the sacristy is a fourteenth or fifteenth-century
picture on a gold ground — a figure of S. John the
Baptist, with incidents from his life. It came from a
church dedicated to him which was destroyed in 1839.

Rovigno and the neighbourhood have suffered much
from piracy. In 965 the Slavs sacked the city. Into
the harbour the Uscocs entered one night at the be-
ginning of 1597, and sacked a galley and ten ships laden
with rich merchandise belonging to Venice. In the
port of Vestre (the birthplace of Maximian of Ravenna),
about three miles from Rovigno, an Uscoc ship, with
150 men, attacked a ship of Cattaro which carried
letters from the doge of Venice, 6,000 ducats of public
money and 4,000 of private, with valuable merchandise.
They took everything and also stripped the other
Venetian ships in the harbour, leaving the sailors
nothing but their shirts !

The Canal of Fasana, between the Brioni Islands
and the mainland, a little to the south, was the scene
of the crushing defeat of the Venetians by the Genoese
in 1379. The quarries in these islands, together with
those of Rovigno, provided stone for the ducal and
other palaces, the Procuratie at Venice, the murazzi
at Chioggia, and the mole at Malamocco. It is but a
short distance hence to the entrance to the magnificent
harbour of Pola.

Craftsmen of Rovigno have made the name of the
town celebrated, such as the sculptors Lorenzo and

132 TO POLA BY SEA

Antonio del Vescovo, who worked in 1468 at the
Camaldulan church of Murano, and Taddeo da Rovigno,
who did much decorative carving in Venetian palaces.
A more distinguished man was Fra Sebastiano da
Rovigno, the lame Slavonian (il Zoppo Schiavone),
the teacher of the still more celebrated intarsiatore,
Fra Damiano of Bergamo. Some of his works are in
the choir and sacristy of S. Mark's, Venice. The name
of Donato of Parenzo is also coupled with these Rovig-
nese craftsmen.

TO POLA BY LAND

One Easter Sunday we drove in lovely weather from
Parenzo to S. Lorenzo in Pasenatico, and on to
Canfanaro. By the road we passed every now and
then farmers' houses, such as the one illustrated, and
met groups of peasants going into Parenzo to the festa.
As we got further from the city the men were collected
in groups, talking, smoking, or playing bowls ; whilst
the women also by themselves, in knots of as many as
twenty, were seated together enjoying a gossip. The
landscape was pleasant, but rather featureless, except
for the bulk of Monte Maggiore blue to the south-east.
We reached S. Lorenzo at the moment of the elevation
of the Host, and found the ancient basilica crowded
with worshippers, while several men knelt with rosary
in clasped hands outside the open doors, their eyes
fixed intently upon the altar. After a time the con-
gregation poured out, dressed in most picturesque
costumes, and evidently found our appearance quite
as interesting and strange as we found theirs. The
men had one big earring (as at Rovigno), and wore
white shirts with full sleeves, sometimes embroidered,
hose of woven wool, a jacket hung loosely over the
shoulders, and a little black cap on the head. The
women had full skirts of beautiful tertiary colours,
rows of coral round their necks, and large silver-gilt
brooches, and rosette ornaments on their breasts with

133

134 TO POLA BY LAND

chains attached. On their heads, tied round the base
of the skull, they had white handkerchiefs, sometimes
with ornamented borders. Over the bodice a kind of
loose waistcoat was worn.

The church is a basilica with nave and aisles, all
terminated by semicircular apses, with an arcade of
nine arches of unequal width, owing perhaps partly to
the obliquity of the west wall, itself caused by the close
proximity of the palace of the Count, which was still in
existence till 1833. The three easternmost bays are
enclosed as presbytery, and this and other alterations
are the work of the seventeenth century ; but two of the
original pierced window-slabs are still in position in
the side apses, traces of the small clerestory windows
are visible, and in a wall to the left of the facade are
encrusted several fragments of carving which appar-
ently formed part of the original chancel of the ninth
or early tenth century. The style of the caps of the
nave arcade, the irregularity in their size, and in that
of the plain super-abaci above them, also point to the
same period. The apses have shallow arcading out-
side ; the campanile is an addition built on to the tower
of one of the town gates, the exterior arch of which is
stopped ; about the height of the nave cornice two
great brackets project. Another of the wall-towers
near at hand still retains the staircase by which it was
ascended. Along the south wall of the church runs a
loggia supported on slender columns, and in the piazza
in front is the base of the flagstaff which once supported
the standard of S. Mark. A gateway with a very
pointed arch at the bottom of this piazza forms the
entrance to the town. The walls are all of the early
Venetian period, and a well-head ordered to be carved
in 133 1 by Giovanni Contarini has a rampant winged
lion half-length, crowned and nimbed, and with a
closed book.

X
H

o
o

M
ft

S. LORENZO IN PASENATICO 135

The city swore fealty to Venice in 12 71, and became
in 1304 the seat of the captain of the Pasenatico, an
officer who had charge of the fortresses and town walls
throughout Istria, and the duty of enlisting foot
soldiers, sailors, and oarsmen. Marco Soranzo was
the first captain. Fifty-two years after his time a
second captaincy was created in Umago, afterwards
transferred to Grisignana. At some time between 1312
and 1328 Marino Faliero was governor here. In 1394
the captaincy was removed to Raspo, and subsequently
to Pinguente. In 1595 it was given to the podesta
and captain of Capodistria, except as regarded Pirano.

The church is said to contain the bodies of SS. Victor
and Corona, taken from Due Castelli during the war of
Chioggia. The "Chronicle" relates that a Genoese
squadron was in the Canal di Leme, and the people of
S. Lorenzo sent a deputation suggesting co-operation in
an attack on Due Castelli, between which town and
itself there were rivalry and hatred. The enterprise was
successful, and Due Castelli was sacked and burnt.
Tommasini records that the marks of fire were visible
in his time. The bodies of the saints were carried off
as spoil ; but it seems probable that it was a Venetian
and not a Genoese fleet which co-operated with the
men of S. Lorenzo, since Due Castelli belonged to the
patriarch, who was allied to the Genoese.

The road from S. Lorenzo to Canfanaro crosses the
Draga valley (which is 600 or 700 ft. deep) by long
zigzags, from which the ruins of Due Castelli are seen
towards the west. They can be visited from Canfanaro.
Where the valley narrows upon two projecting spurs,
nearly opposite to each other, were Monte Castello, or
Moncastello, and Castello Parentino, given to the
church of Parenzo by Otho II., but entirely destroyed
long ago. These were the " Due Castelli ': (two
castles). The sea is five kilometres away. The walls

136 TO POLA BY LAND

and towers (which were built about 1616 by the prov-
veditore, Marco Loredan) from a distance appear well
preserved, but the only buildings remaining within
are two churches and the castle.

The double girdle of walls of the castle, with well-
preserved battlemented towers, is the principal factor
in the effect. The gateways are pointed : outside the
walls, towards Castel Parentino, is the pedestal for the
municipal standard; on the other side is an illegible
inscription in which the date 1475 may be deciphered.
The more important church, S. Sofia, still has its
outside walls, the three apses, with traces of frescoes
in the central one, and the walls of the sacristy. At
the beginning of the fourteenth century it appears to
have belonged to the Castropola, and then to the Count
of Gorizia ; but in 1420 the Venetians appointed a
podesta. In 1616 the Uscocs sacked the place, and the
plague of 1630-1631 slew many of the remaining in-
habitants. The district grew malarious ; and at the
beginning of the next century the rector, the ministers,
the chapter, and the few people who remained took
the precious things which the church still retained
and moved to S. Silvestro, Canfanaro. S. Sofia was
abandoned on June 7, 1714. The fourteenth-century
pulpit, brought with them, is hexagonal, with subjects
in the panels, and supported on six columns. In one
panel a female figure holds two triple-towered castles
of the same shape as those in the arms of Muggia.
Malaria still keeps the district clear of houses, though
the land is cultivated.

A few miles from Canfanaro to the north-west is
Pisino, the capital of Istria, situated upon and about
the rock beneath which the river Foiba disappears.
The railway winds round the sides of green and wooded
hills, rising with each curve till it is some height above
the city. The landscape is more striking than is usual

PISINO 137

in Istria, hills of some size appearing on the horizon,
while in the middle distance the Foiba meanders
through a fruitful valley, occasionally broken by a low
waterfall. The copses which clothe the hillsides here
and there are vocal with the song of birds, and nightin-
gales may be heard in plenty in the spring. The
situation is magnificent. The town stands upon the
summit of a promontory spreading out like the fingers
of a hand, and at its base the river foams and rushes,
entering a deep winding ravine and plunging beneath
a rocky precipice several hundred feet high, on the top
of which a few houses appear. The steep sides are
green with trees to a certain height, and then the grey
rock appears scantily covered with grass in places ;
above the abyss swallows dart and hawks hover. On
all sides the rushing of water is heard, and fountains
in the streets betoken an unusual supply, for Istria
is generally a thirsty land. The castle is so close to
the chasm that from one of the windows a stone can
be tossed into the water. The dwarf wall shown in
the illustration runs along the top of the precipice.
Upon the door the date of 1785 is cut, but the greater
part of the walls with their machicolations belongs to
a reconstruction of the ancient castle in the fifteenth
century. It is still inhabited, and part of it is used
for district offices, but there is little of archaeological
interest in city or castle. In the courtyard is a well
on a platform ornamented with stone balls to which
twelve steps ascend, a rather curious arrangement.
The place for the bar which fastened the doors is still
there, but in these peaceful times they appear to stand
open day and night ; at all events they were open when
we reached the place about 7 a.m., having left Pola
soon after 5. In the cathedral are a silver processional
cross with figures of saints, and a tabernacle of 1543,
rich of its kind, also a picture by Girolamo da S. Croce.

138 TO POLA BY LAND

There was a cattle-fair on the day we were in the
town ; the place was full of contadini, and the roads
were thronged with cattle being driven in for sale.
The lambs were slung on donkeys' backs in couples,
confined in sacks with their heads out of the mouths,
and one lively little black fellow escaped and caused
much excitement before he was caught and re-
imprisoned. The type of the peasants is quite different
from that of those lower down the coast ; the head is
long, the nose aquiline, and the countenance seamed with
many deep wrinkles. The older men wore one large
earring in the right ear, hose of a thick whitish woollen
material, or brown or blue trousers which sometimes
reached but a little below the knee, a white shirt, and a
brown jacket hung over the shoulder. The daughter
of the house, who served us at a rough restaurant
where we had dejeuner together with some of the
country folk, was anxious to know whether the lan-
guage we were speaking together was Russian. I fancy
English travellers are very rare in that part of the
country.

A few miles south of Canfanaro is the little town of
San Vincenti, in which is one of the best preserved of
the Istrian castles, showing indeed little sign of ruin
externally. It occupies one side of the main piazza.
At right angles to it is the church, with a facade re-
calling the work of the Lombardi, and there is a loggia
and a public cistern, made in 1808 to ensure a good
supply of drinking-water. In this piazza a joust was
held as late as June 24, 17 13. There Maria Radoslavich
was hung and then burnt as a witch on February 25 ,
1632.

The castle is quadrilateral with a round and an
octagonal tower at the angles of the northern face.
The opposite side has a square tower at the angle to
the right, and to the left the house of the governor just

AN ANGLE OF THE CASTLE, SAN VINCENTI

To face pageji3Q

SAN VINCENTI 139

beyond the entrance-gate ; the walls splay out widely
to the bottom of the ditch. The slits for the chains
of the drawbridge are on each side of a little grated
window, and above the door are the date 1485 and the
arms of Marino Grimani, with an inscription recording
a restoration in 1589 after a fire in 1586. On a small
door inside is the date 1728, showing that the castle
underwent restorations and rebuildings. In the middle
of the cornice is an arch for the castle-bell. The town
was part of the feud of S. Apollinare, and was destroyed
in 1330 by the soldiers of the Patriarch Pagano della
Torre. The castle belonged first to the Castropola,
then to the Morosini, and finally to the Grimani. It
was dismantled by Bernardo Tiepolo after the war of
Gradisca (during which Loredano used it as his quarters
general), with the object of freeing the people from
forced service of various kinds. Low buildings used
as harness and store-rooms, &c., still remain against
the walls inside, but the stair to the suite of principal
rooms is ruinous. It is external, and led to a terrace
beneath which were prisons, and from which another
flight rose to a door of entrance, walled up but still
traceable, at a considerable height. Other prisons
were in the towers, which were bound together by the
gallery which ran round the interior. The ground floor
of the seventeenth-century house which occupies the
ancient keep was arranged as guard-rooms and soldiers'
lodgings ; an internal stair conducts to a few rooms
which look into the courtyard ; the floors of the rest
have been destroyed. Externally there is no opening
for half the height ; then there are two pointed windows
with a considerable space between ; above these in the
middle is a large loggia with two pointed doors, at
the sides quadrangular windows, and higher up, beneath
the eaves, four more small window-openings. Some
of the towers are ivy-grown.

140

TO POLA BY LAND

In the church in the piazza is a S. Sebastian ascribed
to Schiavone. The most ancient church is, however,
in the cemetery to the north, a simple nave with pointed
windows. The little chapel illustrated, at a crossing of
the ways, is characteristic of this part of Istria. The
people still speak Venetian Italian, though there are a
good many Slav contadini, brought from Dalmatia by
the Grimani in 1628. The type has regular and marked

m,.

WAYSIDE CHAPEL OUTSIDE SAN VINCENTI

features, with dark eyes and hair. The costume is not
quite that of the Morlacchi, being all black except the
shoes, which are of natural leather. The women have
short skirts, black stockings, and shiny shoes, many
chains round the neck, and earrings, and on festas have
a coronal of pins in their carefully arranged hair, like
the women of the Brianza. Their weddings are cele-
brated amid great gatherings of friends ; two pipers,
with instruments timed in thirds, march first, playing
a kind of tarantella ; then follows a company of con-

MARRIAGE CUSTOMS 141

tadini two and two, not arm-in-arm, but with a coloured
handkerchief from one head to the other. The bride
has a kind of turban of brilliant colours on her head,
from which masses of vari-coloured silken ribbons hang,
covering her to the shoulders and breast except for her
eyes, nose, and mouth. Her chemise is finely pierced
and embroidered on neck, bosom, and cuffs, and her
stockings are of open work, while her shoes are almost
like sandals. Rows of coral deck her neck, and her
fingers have as many gold rings on them as possible.
The bridegroom's hat bears a crown of artificial flowers,
as does that of the best man ; all the friends have a
similar bunch in their hands or caps. After the
marriage the pipers play, and the whole of the company
form up in a straight line outside the church. Then
the best man comes forward with a kind of cake, which,
after various feints, he throws among the crowd of
children which quickly collects, and they scramble for
it. Then the husband and wife, with the best man, go
to the goldsmith's to buy the marriage present. Later
there is a dance. The men and women face each other
in line. They pace rapidly back and forth without
moving forward. Then the couples advance, the man
raises his right arm and opens the hand to the woman,
who grasps it, and turns herself under the arch of the
two arms. Then the man passes his arm round his
partner's waist and they go round in measured walk.

Between San Vincenti and Pola are Valle and
Dignano. At the former the fortifications are earlier
than the fourteenth century, heavy and imposing, with
five lofty towers (two of which are embattled), so that
projectiles were dangerous rather from the force of
gravity than from the impulse given. A portion of
them is ruined, and one of the towers is now the com-
munal cistern. In the crypt of the church are frag-
ments of ninth-century carving, cut up disgracefully

142 TO POLA BY LAND

and made into a modern altar, and there is a sarco-
phagus of the same period in the cemetery. The
campanile is considered to be the oldest in Istria. In
the treasury are a silver-gilt monstrance with many
pinnacles and Renaissance scrolls on the foot, a cross
and a chalice of silver-gilt with medallions on the foot,
which once had an enamel ground. The most inte-
resting thing, however, is a chasuble of the fifteenth
century, with embroidered figures of silver-gilt thread
in high relief upon the cross. At the back, on the up-
right part, is a half-length of our Lord in a chalice, and
two saints, all three beneath canopies, and on the arms
SS. Peter and Paul. On the front are two figures and
an Annunciation on the arms ; the Virgin on one side,
and the angel on the other. The flesh is painted.

XII

POLA

The town and arsenal of Pola lie at the head of one of
those convenient inlets which provide the Austrian
coast so plentifully with fine harbours. As the steamer
passes between Cape Compare and Monte Grosso the
naval port appears to the right with many powerful
ships-of-war anchored in the bay : beyond and above
the island of Olivi, occupied by part of the arsenal,
rises the town, its buildings climbing the hill towards
the castle which crowns the summit. To the left is the
ample commercial port with its long quays stretching
towards the railway station, the imposing mass of
the amphitheatre dominating the whole of that side of
the picture. These two structures, the amphitheatre
and the arsenal, show the chief interests of Pola — the
glory of antiquity, and modern utility devoted to de-
fence ; for the monuments of mediaeval times are few
in the city, and the destruction wrought alternately by
Venice and Genoa left it poor, and in many parts
ruinous, till the modern revival, with the transference
of the headquarters of the Austrian navy from Venice
in 1861. The mouth of the harbour is less than half a
mile across and is over 100 ft. deep. The eastern
portion has a depth of 20 ft. against the quays, which
are all constructed on made ground. The quarries on
the Brioni Islands have afforded excellent material close
at hand for the buildings and fortifications both in
antiquity and in modern times.

143

144 POLA

The castle hill was the capitol of the Roman city,
and the streets ran round it, with others diverging like
the ladders of a spider's web. A canal isolating the
city from the land existed to the east. Of the land
gates two still remain — the Porta Gemina (anciently
the Porta Jo via) and the Porta Ercole ; the arch of the
Sergii formed the interior face of a third (of which a
portion of the lower courses remain), the Porta Aurea,
so called probably from its having had grilles of gilded
bronze. There were also seven gates in the walls
towards the sea. The forum was twice the size of
the present piazza, which occupies part of its site, and
had twin temples at one end, with the comitium be-
tween them, of which one remains in good preservation,
and a portion of the back part of the other. There was
a temple of Jupiter Conservatorius, upon the site of
which the cathedral stands ; and one to Minerva,
afterwards the site of the destroyed basilica of S. Maria
in Canneto. The theatre was near the Porta Aurea,
and is now marked only by the excavation of its curve
in the hillside and a few ruined arches in a private
garden. The destruction of ancient Pola is largely
due to Venice, who appeared to think that when the
communes gave themselves to her she acquired the
right of removing any of the monuments to beautify
herself ; and it even went so far as for a patrician to
seriously propose to bear the cost of transporting the
amphitheatre to Venice, and re-erecting it on the site
of the present public gardens !

The Porta Gemina consists of twin arches, beneath
a simple frieze and more elaborate cornice supported
by modillions, which rest upon three engaged com-
posite columns raised upon pedestal blocks. The key-
stones are flat, and the piercing of some holes in them
suggests that metal enrichments were affixed. It was
an important gate, being the direct way to the amphi-

ARCH OF THE SERGII, POLA

To face page 145

ANCIENT GATES OF THE CITY 145

theatre from the Capitol, and also the starting-point
of the military road towards the Arsa and Albona. By
it also the aqueduct passed into the city. The Porta
Ercole is simpler, and probably older ; it bears the
names of two duumvirs, Lucius Cassius Longinus and
Lucius Calphurnius Piso, and some rough carving.
Of the Porta Aurea itself, which had a central gate for
chariots and two side gates for pedestrians, little
remains. Beneath the arch of the Sergii the ancient
pavement has been uncovered, bearing wheelmarks
made many centuries ago, and the lower courses of the
gateway adjacent, but all the part above the present
street-level has disappeared. The carving on the arch
of the Sergii shows a curious economy. Since the gate
was so close to it only a portion of the coupled
Corinthian columns could be seen ; the fluting, there-
fore, was carried only a third of the way round, and
the capitals were left merely roughed out, as were
also the mouldings of the attic which would be hidden
by the cornice, except in the portions visible from the
external sides. The soffit of the arch is carved, and
the face of the pilaster below has a very rich and grace-
ful vine arabesque upon it. The other side is fully
decorated with victories in the spandrils, festoons and
chariot-races on the frieze, and the attic develops
three pedestals for statues, inscribed to members of the
family of Salvia Postumia, who erected it in honour of
her husband, Lucius Sergius, his father of the same
name, and his uncle Cnseus Sergius. Lucius Sergius
was tribune of the 29th Legion. The work is probably
of the time of Augustus.

The finely proportioned temple was erected at a
later period during his lifetime by the grateful Polese ;
such adulation could be tolerated only in Asia, and
Augustus declined to allow the dedication without the
addition of " Rome." The facade has four Corinthian

146 POLA

columns, and at the angles of the cella are four chan-
nelled pilasters ; between these and the four columns
of the facade is a similar column on each side. The
roof is modern. Within it and around are collected
numerous sculptured fragments, antique and of the
early mediaeval period for the most part, which would
be the better for spacing and arranging. The other
temple is of a later date. They both stood upon a
platform twelve steps above the forum, themselves
raised further by seven steps and a stylobate. The
rostra were on the forum side of the comitium.

Till 1875 the amphitheatre — which was built in
198-2 1 1 in honour of Septimius Severus (who had been
governor of Illyria) and of Caracalla — lay open to the
street. It was then railed round, and since that time
systematic excavations have disclosed the plan of the
sub-structures. The circuit, which is nearly perfect,
consists of seventy-two arches, and the elevation has a
basement and a principal story, with an attic of square
windows to light the promenade, and a finishing cornice
through which the masts for the Velarium passed,
resting upon stone blocks above the cornice of the main
story. The arches at the extremities of the long
diameter are wider than the rest, and therefore cut into
the frieze above, an unusual licence. There are four
towers, two towards the sea and two towards the hill,
which probably contained double staircases, but no
sign of them remains, though the doorways and grilles
of pierced stone testify to their usefulness. Excava-
tions have brought to light forty or fifty pieces of the
steps of the auditorium, upon some of which the seats
are marked by dividing lines and by letters. The
podium of the arena shows by its lowness that fights
with wild beasts did not take place in it. Until the
fourteenth century the interior remained nearly com-
plete, the patriarch having forbidden the removal of

<
c

w
s

i— i

S. MARIA FORMOSA 147

stones. At that time the seats were taken to repair
the town walls, and a great deal of the material was
subsequently sold to Venice. The stone of which the
amphitheatre is built has taken on a beautiful warm
colour from the suns of centuries, and glows in the
sunset light as if it were the marble which makes so
many Italian buildings lovely in colour.

The most important church in Pola was S. Maria
Formosa, or del Canneto (of the marsh), built on the
foundations of the temple of Minerva. It was founded
by Maximian, archbishop of Ravenna, the friend of
Justinian, who was born at Vistro, now Porto Vestre,
a village to the south of Rovigno. He came to Pola
to consecrate it in 546. He also founded a Benedictine
monastery near, which soon became the richest in Istria
by its connection with Ravenna, endowed the convent
of S. Andrea, and built a house for the rector of the
basilica. The site of the abbey is now occupied by the
buildings of the Hotel Central and other houses in
the parallel streets Via Minerva and Via Abbazia. It
was a basilican church with nave, and aisles raised two
steps above it. There were ten columns on each side,
with varied capitals. The aisles were vaulted, and the
semi-dome of the apse was decorated with mosaics on
a gold ground. The high-altar was under a baldacchino ;
there was a throne for the abbot, and seats in the choir
for the monks. The windows were small and round-
headed, filled with pierced slabs. The ancient door of
entrance is between Nos. 27 and 33, Via Abbazia — a
round arch simply moulded, with a dentil round the
tympanum and a lintel below. The nave stretched
along the space now occupied by the stable-yard of the
hotel, and the wall of the north aisle forms part of
the stables. It has external pilaster strips opposite to
the places where the columns of the nave arcade stood.
The apse, with triumphal arch, still exists, and two

VIAH1NERVN

ALTES ABTEITHOR
PLAN OF S. MARIA FORMOSA, POLA

VIA AEBAZW

REMAINS OF THE CHURCH 149

round chapels which flanked it and were entered from
the aisles ; one of them was dedicated to the Madonna
del Carmelo, and the other to S. Andrew.

The S. Maria del Canneto of to-day is a cruciform
chapel which lay to the right, and has an apsidal
eastern end. The entrance is past the kitchen of the
hotel ; and from a window of an upstairs corridor one
can " assist " at Mass when it is performed, for the
church is entirely enclosed in the hotel buildings. The
arms of the cross have wagon vaults ; at the crossing
is a quadripartite vault with ribs and central oculus
on a higher level ; rough projections along the ribs
suggest the copying of leaf ribs of early mosaics. It is
about 22 ft. 6 in. high, and there is a window in each
wall. The roof shows ancient material, and in some
parts the ancient manner of using tiles. On the face
of the bell-turret a piece of eighth-century carving is
fixed. The walls are now whitewashed, and the floor
covered with red tiles. The round chapel to the left
of the apse has a cupola with an oculus and a lantern
at the top. There are still remains of the mosaic
pavement of the apse in No. 20, Via Minerva : in 1898,
when building the stables, some fragments were found
near to the aisle wall, which, with others unearthed in
1902, are now in the municipal museum. The patterns
are a guilloche border with fishes, enclosing a field of
plant sprigs, and a lotus border with a more con-
ventional pattern within. The colours used are two
reds, two greens, black and white, and pale blue occa-
sionally. The cloister lay between the church and Via
Abbazia; the houses 39, 37, and 35, stand on its site.
The last notices of the church occur in the middle of
the thirteenth century ; later mention refers only to the
ruins. The destruction appears to have taken place
when Pola was sacked by the Venetians under Giacomo
Tiepolo and Leonardo Querini in 1243, though some

ISO POLA

think that it was in one of the later sackings by the
Genoese, of which there were three in the fourteenth
century — 1354, 1376, and 1380. In 1600 a number of
the pillars were still upright, and mosaics and sculptures
were visible ; at that time they tried to raise a chapel
within its walls. It is certain that the Venetians
gradually despoiled it of everything of value, with the
consent of the Polese. Much of the material was used
in the seventeenth century for the restoration and re-
building of the communal palace, and two at least of
the pillars of the ciborium of S. Mark's, Venice, as well
as the four of Oriental alabaster, which the tourist is
told came from the Temple of Solomon, were spoils
from this splendid church, the latter annexed in 1605,
and the former by Giacomo Tiepolo in 1243.

In 1545 Sansovino was sent by the Senate to bring
away the marble columns to Venice. The African
marble on the landings of the Libreria Vecchia also
came from Pola, and the shaft of the holy-water basin
in S. Mark's, with dolphins and tridents, once belonged
to a temple of Neptune there. The Polese presented
the four central columns to S. Maria della Salute, from
the theatre on Monte Zaro. In 1632 the Venetian
Senate ordered the provveditore of the castle, Pola, to
inform himself as to the number and quantity of the
columns of "noble architecture " which were in one of
the ruinous churches, and on August 21, 1638, praised
the diligence of Bragadin in sending marbles for S.
Maria della Salute. He had sent fourteen columns
in April, and information of others at Parenzo.

Several other early churches in and around Pola
were destroyed while constructing the fortifications.
On the island of S. Caterina was a cemetery church,
the plan of which indicated early Byzantine origin ;
on that of S. Andrea were a cloister and church of the
sixth century ; and on the hill whence the Tegethoff

THE CATHEDRAL 151

monument now looks over the harbour the double
basilica of S. Michele in Monte, partly dating from the
seventh century and partly from the eleventh. The
grave of Salomon, king of Hungary, who died here in
1087 and was canonised shortly after, whose body had
been venerated in the cathedral from the fifteenth
century, was then found. The sarcophagus is now
in the museum.

The original cathedral appears to have been con-
temporary with that of Parenzo, but it was restored
in the ninth century. In 1884 the floor of the pres-
bytery was lowered, and near the high-altar, at a depth of
two feet, Roman fragments and ninth-century carvings
were found, with an inscription of the fifteenth century ;
lower still were Roman inscriptions and sculptures,
and then a semicircular mosaic floor of 13 ft. radius,
with a lily border on a black and red ground (grey,
yellow, and white tesserae also being used), with an
inscription mentioning Donatian, and small medallions
with cross and square. Under the first step of the
demolished stairs was a second much damaged mosaic
resembling the early one at Parenzo. It may be seen
by lifting a trap-door. A bronze medal of Agrippina
was found at the same time. Three rectangular
windows were also discovered, a large one in the centre
and two smaller towards the sides, the former filled
with a pierced slab now preserved in the presbytery.
The triumphal arch is round, with early caps and
impost mouldings ; other early caps and columns are
visible in the walls of the choir in hollows made to
expose them. The theory is that there was a confes-
sional behind the apse instead of below it, of which
these fragments are the remains. Encrusted in the
outer wall of the south aisle is an inscription which
runs thus : " In the year 857, fifth indiction, under
Ludovicus, Emperor of Italy, Handegis was elected

152 POLA

and consecrated bishop on Whit Sunday, and occupied
the seat for five years." It is thought that he was the
restorer of the building. Some of the ninth-century
carvings are in the museum. Several small windows
high in the nave walls still retain the slabs pierced with
ninth-century patterns, and two unbroken ciborium
or baptistery archi volts still exist, one in the courtyard
of the Beata Vergine della Misericordia, and the other in
the Piazza S. Giovanni, where it is made up into a
little shrine with two fourteenth-century caps, and a Re-
naissance pediment with two uprights of a chancel of
Lombard work, with three furrowed scrolls and crosses
of the usual Syrian derivation.

The church was subsequently much altered, the
transepts and apse have vanished, and stones found
which bear the marks of fire suggest that it was burnt,
either by the Venetians in 1243 or by the Genoese in
1379, wnen they took the bronze doors away and
burnt the archives. An inscription on the front of
the reliquary tomb, which is to the right of the high-
altar, and claims to contain the bodies of SS. Basil,
Demetrius, George, and Theodore, and of Salomon, king
of Hungary, states that Bishop Biagio Molin rebuilt
the church in 1417. To this building the retable of
the high-altar, dedicated in 1469 and now in the north
aisle, belongs, still called La Madonna del Coro. It
has figures of saints in the upper row, half length, and
full length in the lower row, in high relief ; the Madonna
in the centre, and above her Christ over His tomb,
showing His wounds, and attended by the Virgin and
S. John, with fine tabernacle work and pierced
pinnacles, all gilded except the flesh, which is painted,
and the ground behind the pinnacles, which is blue.
It is rather over-restored and looks quite new. The
ciborium has cipollino columns, antique caps, pointed
arches, and Venetian dentil enrichments with marble

EARLY RELIQUARIES 153

inlays. The nave arcade, of nine columns, has slightly
pointed arches, unmoulded except for a simple hood-
mould and a kind of engrailed crown above the abacus.
The caps are for the most part late fourteenth century
in character, but some are antique. The columns have
been made up to the same size with plaster, and painted
to imitate granite, only a few having escaped. The
last one on the south has a ring round the centre ; one
base looks antique, many of them have spurs. The
restorations of 1640 and 17 12 have obliterated all
appearance of antiquity. Bishop Giuseppe Maria
Bottari, the last restorer, used so many inscribed slabs
in repairing the interior and building the campanile
that he was nicknamed " the sexton of inscriptions.' '
There was a cruciform baptistery to the west, the re-
mains of which were destroyed in 1850 in connection
with the harbour works. To the north of the cathedral
is the communal cistern, which covers a great part of
the site of the early church of S. Thomas. In i860
some reliquaries were found here between the cistern
and the cathedral sacristy, where the centre of the apse
probably was, and further investigations disclosed the
steps to the presbytery, remains of the apse, and stones
carved with ornament. In 1332 this church was used
for service in place of the ruined cathedral, and as late
as 1812 some remains of the walls were visible. The
reliquaries were contained in a stone chest some three
feet below the ground level. Within it was another
smaller chest of Greek marble, with Byzantine orna-
ment, and a gable roof with an inlaid cross of green
stone. This was preserved in the cathedral for some
time, but has now disappeared. Within it the work-
men found a flat rectangular casket, described as being
divided into sixteen compartments, which held silver
reliquaries, and in the middle a small golden box, in
which were two little finger-bones. In another was a

154 POLA

small yellow piece of silk with blood-spots on it. The
sacristan asserted that there were also twelve golden
statuettes a span high, and some smaller silver vases ;
but all the reliquaries have disappeared except two,
which have been preserved at Vienna since 1888. The
more important of the two is an hexagonal box with an
ogee-shaped lid and a little rosette on the apex ; on
the sides are repousse figures, the upper parts of which
are repeated with some modifications on the lid.
These figures are : Christ, between SS. Peter and Paul,
and three single figures, two of which hold symbols,
a roll, and a tau-cross. The Christ is youthful, without
a nimbus, and holds an open book in the left hand.
The draperies are all antique in style, and the work
is believed to be of the first or second century. A hasp
is attached to the lid, but there is no sign of hinge or
corresponding button. The smaller casket is rectan-
gular, resembling that found at Grado. On the lid is
a cross in dark-blue enamel with surroundings of
filigree.

The church of S. Francesco is halfway up the hill
to the castle, and is now used as a military magazine.
Towards the road the wall terminates in a gable, with
two pointed openings for bells ; below is a red cross
inlaid within an enclosing moulding. A ramping
cornice of shallow arches with dentils above it finishes
the wall, the centre portion of which is pierced with a
two-light trefoiled window blocked up below, while a
chapel to the north is lighted by simple-pointed
windows. The fine entrance door, with its rich mould-
ings, twisted columns, and round arch, looks rather
older than 1314, which is the date of the first certain
mention of the church ; but in Istria and Dalmatia styles
lingered late. It is said to have been built by the
Castropola in 1285, and a half-obliterated inscription
by the door records the date of 1406, when a provincial

WEST DOORWAY, S. FRANCESCO, POLA

To face page 154

OTHER MEDIAEVAL BUILDINGS 155

Franciscan council was held in the church. On each
side of the door is a window of two trefoiled lights with
slender shafts, and above it a rose with Gothic tracery.
The interior has a simple unvaulted nave, a choir of
one bay with cross vaulting, and a small chapel, pro-
bably the sepulchral chapel of the Castropola, since
their arms are on the windows. The only remaining
piece of the cloister serves as entrance portico. The
little garden outside the principal door has a bowling-
alley beneath a vine pergola, from which there is a
beautiful view over the bay ; and in it grow trees of
euonymus and oleander with thick trunks, and an aloe,
besides the usual roses, peaches, and mulberries.

The communal palace was built in 1296 ; the back
portion is part of the second temple. Some portions
of the ancient building remain on the right flank, It
was the palace of the Margrave of Istria, and later of
the Venetian rectors or counts of Pola. According to
Kandler, the figure of a knight upon it represents
Albert II., Count of Istria. The Genoese damaged the
palace in 1390, but it was restored the next year.
After the facade fell in 165 1, it was rebuilt in its present
form, with material from S. Maria Formosa, but it was
not finished till 1703. During the last years of the
Republic the count lived in the back portion, had his
stables in the temple of Augustus and his kitchen in
the other temple.

The castle was built on the ruins of the Capitol,
probably about 1200. Within was the habitation of
the count, a three-naved chapel, arsenal, lodging for
two hundred soldiers, &c. The Sergii seized it in
1271 and became known as Castropolae. Here the
captains of the people lived, who ruled Pola for the
sixty-three years before 1328. The count was a civil
governor, and after 133 1, when the Polese gave them-
selves to Venice, had authority in the lower city ; but

156 POLA

a provveditore was appointed for the castle, who had
a captain, a sergeant, two lieutenants, and eighty
soldiers under his command. In 1638 the two offices
were united. The new castle was commenced after the
plague of 1632 from the designs of the Frenchman
Deville, who used the material of the theatre. Kandler
says that he remembered this castle, which had double
walls with four towers to each, and one larger tower
towards Monte Maggiore. The present castle is quite
modern, and one is warned off when approaching it.
The mediaeval walls were demolished in 1848. They
appear to have been generally in a bad state of repair,
and records of their restoration are frequent. The
sea-walls were thrown down by the Venetians, who did
not like the cities under their sway to have defences on
the water-side, though they were sometimes obliged
to permit something of the sort. For instance, in 1351,
the Polese were allowed to build a wall 10 ft. high
towards the sea, which was a sufficient defence against
a sudden raid, but of little use in the case of a strong
attack. As a matter of fact, the. Genoese broke it
down in 1380, sacked the city, and put all opponents
to the sword.

At the beginning of the fifteenth century Pola was
surrounded by a number of carefully built polygonal
towers. There were eight gates with machicolated
defences above them, and the arms of fifteen rectors
in different places showed that the walls had been long
in building. In 1610 the Uscocs sacked the city,
entering through certain holes in the walls, which, as
Fra Paolo Sarpi relates, rendered the closing of the great
gates useless. The neglect of the Venetians in the
matters of pay and provision of war material in the
seventeenth century reduced the defences to a farce.

The laws of many of the cities prescribed penalties
for crossing the wall. Pola, 1442 : " No person shall

THE COMMUNAL MUSEUM 157

dare to pass over the walls of the city of Pola in any
manner, neither going nor returning, neither with nor
without a ladder, and neither shall they enter nor leave
the gates of the city, neither below nor above, under
penalty of 50 lire di piccoli and three months in prison/ '
The inhabitants of walled places had little liberty.
Besides the duty of guarding the gates, a citizen could
neither enter nor leave except between certain fixed
hours ; if he reached the opposite side of the ditch
after the evening bell he found the drawbridge raised,
and had to seek a bed outside, or climb the wall, in which
case he ran the risk of being surprised and punished.

The communal museum contains many very in-
teresting things belonging to different periods of
Polese history. Here are some very ancient stones
with Mycenean whorls cut upon Istrian material,
perhaps by some prisoner taken by Istrian pirates ;
also stones with these whorls half obliterated, and
hollows sunk here and there, which, it is thought, were
a kind of star map made by shepherds when Istria was
wooded, to direct them in driving their flocks. Here
are two inscriptions mentioning an entirely unknown
god and goddess, and the inscription of Gordian in
which the name of Nesactium occurs, the discovery
of which fixed the site of the most important of the
Istrian cities, the scene of the massacre of the women
and children by the hands of their husbands and
fathers, to prevent them from being taken by the
Romans.

Many things found there are also in the museum —
skulls, an ivory spindle, fragments of pottery and glass,
and two curious statues, very archaic in style, from a
tomb-building. One is a nude rider upon a horse, the
other an unclothed woman suckling a child, thought to
be the indigenous god Melescos and one of the goddess
mothers. There are also a prehistoric oven, bronze

158 POLA

vases found in the well at Tivoli, near Pola, fragments
from S. Maria in Canneto and other destroyed churches ;
and here also the chapter of the cathedral has deposited
portions of the cathedral ciborium and other archi-
tectural fragments.

Pola was founded as a Roman colony in 129 B.C.,
at the same time as Trieste. It fought for Pompey,
and was punished by destruction, but was restored in
33 B.C. as " Pietas Julia" ; and in 27 B.C. Augustus
raised the Istrian cities to the rank of municipia by
adding the province to Italy. The Polese were
inscribed in the tribe Valeria. Pola was also called
Polentia in honour of the mother of Vespasian, and
Herculanea in honour of Commodus. It had been the
judicial capital under the Republic, and was prosperous
under the Empire, being the place where two lines of
traffic crossed, that from Rome through Ancona and
so to the Danube, and that from Britain to Constanti-
nople, and also had agricultural riches and manu-
factures of its own. It was the base of operations
during the reconquest of Italy from the Goths, both for
Belisarius and for Narses, and was made the principal
city and harbour on the east coast of the Adriatic.
It was also the granary of the Exarchate, owing to the
Lombard destruction in Italy, and had a population of
some 25,000. During the plague of 1348, which lasted
for several months, a fifth of the population died, fifty
patrician families became entirely extinct, and privi-
leges were offered to foreigners to induce them to
re-people the city. At the downfall of the Venetian
Republic the population barely amounted to 600
souls.

The popular tradition of the destruction of the
Castropola (who had made themselves lords of Pola)
runs thus : Andrea di Tonata, the head of the popular
faction, arranged a conspiracy to free the city. The

MASSACRE OF THE CASTROPOLA 159

moment chosen was the evening of Good Friday, during
the annual procession called " of the wood of the Holy
Cross," which went round the city, starting from the
cathedral. Near the church of S. Stefano (which was
within the walls at the foot of the castle hill) the
conspirators, disguised in the dress of members of the
Confraternity of S. Stephen, drawing their daggers at
a given signal, threw themselves upon the Castropola,
who were in a separate group in the procession, not
thinking of danger, and killed them. Then, calling
on the people to rise, the conspirators led them to the
assault of the neighbouring castle, which they took by
surprise, killing any of the family or their adherents
whom they met. Only one child escaped, owing his
life to the devotion of a servant who hid him when the
crowd had actually entered the castle, and let him
down by a cord into the Franciscan convent just below,
from which a monk took him secretly out of the city
to one of the country places belonging to the family.
This tradition is not historical, for the family continued
in Pola till the fall of the Signory, and flourished
afterwards in Venice and Treviso ; but there was
certainly a rising then in which the houses of certain
of their adherents were sacked. Two members of the
aristocracy were appointed captains of the people, but
after a month they decided to give themselves to
Venice ; by the Act of Dedition the Castropola were
banished from Pola, Istria, Friuli, and Schiavonia,
though they were allowed to retain their property.
Their principal adherents were also banished. In 1334
an attempt to regain the Signory caused the Polese to
ask the Senate to dismantle the castle, which was done,
and the houses of the two heads of the family were
also destroyed. So Pola became a mere appanage of
Venice.

XIII

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ISTRIAN
COAST

Istria is in great part a dry and stony land, but there
are valleys with streams and woods. It slopes to the
west and south with a tolerably continuous declivity,
so that the base of the triangular peninsula is on the
whole the highest part. Much of the vegetation is
greyish, and the rocks also are generally a pale grey.
It is divided into three districts, named, from, the
prevailing colour of the ground, white, yellow, and red.
The first is the stony portion, the grey limestone of the
Karst ; next the yellow sandstone formation which
begins at Trieste and extends through middle Istria ;
and then the southern portion where the white lime-
stone is underneath, and clay of a red ochreous colour
occurs in streaks. Round Pisino and Pinguente and
between them are fields, meadows, and even woods,
with plenty of streams which burst from the sandstone,
while limestone hills jut out here and there. Pisino
lies on the edge of " yellow " Istria, and hills rise around
it ; on the south side is a hill of the red land ; and the
houses are on an outcrop of the white limestone. The
Foiba runs along the junction of the two formations.
Middle Istria undulates from about 1,200 ft. to 900 ft.
above the sea, while Lower Istria is but 500 ft. The
hills are lower and less steep, there is more cultivation,
and the villages and towns look more prosperous.

160

COAST TOWNS 161

The shore (except for the deltas of a few streams)
has no flat portions, and the banks (scarcely cliffs),
though generally perpendicular and difficult to climb,
are not at all lofty. The coast is broken into bays by
projecting tongues of land, making harbours of differing
degrees of safety, with an enormous number of small
islands, many of which are mere rocks, obliging the
steamers to keep some considerable distance from the
land. The first navigable passage between them and
the coast is the Canal of Fasana, within the Brioni
Islands. The view from the sea shows rough steep
stretches of bank with picturesque harbour towns ;
the stone walls and towers, the tall campanile, generally
reminiscent of that of S. Marco, Venice, the white
houses, the grey of the bare shores and the varied
greens of the surrounding country, with its woods,
fields and gardens, harmonise pleasantly, especially
in the afternoon and evening light. Nearly every
town has an upper or more ancient portion built for
security on a hill which was once an island, and a newer
part close to the water. From the outer harbour the
" mandracchio," the inner harbour, opens with the
fish-market close by. The " piazza," in and near
which are the tnunicipio, the loggia, and the patricians'
palaces, is generally approached by one of the steep
streets, many of which are on the natural rock and
impassable for wheeled vehicles. Above the coastline
the hills of the interior rise in bluer distance, with here
and there a town crowning a lesser elevation. Montona
appears, cresting its isolated hill above the Quieto, and
Buie, the look-out of Istria, while to the south-east
the blue mass of Monte Maggiore is hidden or disclosed
as the clouds gather and disperse.

Beyond the harbour of Pola is the low point of
Promontore, where the coastline turns and runs north-
east. All around the harbour forts are seated on points

1 62 THE ISTRIAN COAST

of vantage, some older, some very modern ; and little
villages occupy those elevations left vacant by the
military authorities. To the south are the large
islands of Cherso and Veglia. At the mouth of the
Bado valley lies the little port of that name, around
which are many tiny islands. From Caorano, near the
mouth of the canal of the Arsa, the land begins to rise,
and with Punta Nera, an outlying spur of the chain
of Monte Maggiore, the coast becomes rocky and pre-
cipitous, from 950 ft. to 3,200 ft. high, furrowed by
valleys running down to the sea. The villages are high
above the water, and there is little green except in the
lower parts, the grey of the rock being varied only
with brushwood. Albona may be taken as a typical
example of the situation of these villages, being high
above its harbour, Rabaz. As the boat approaches
nearer the shore the range of cliffs plunging down into
the green water is impressive. Towards Abbazia the
red soil becomes more abundant, the hills are terraced,
and vegetation is more luxuriant, great chestnuts and
bay-trees appear, and cypresses when Lovrana is
reached. This north shore of the Quarnero, stretching
to Fiume, is the Riviera of Austria. The Dinaric Alps
surround it from Monte Maggiore, and the Liburnian
Karst to the Velebits. In this district hedges of bay
nourish, and in the Villa Angiolina park may be seen
many varieties of trees in blossom or fruit, which
luxuriate in the sheltered situation. The view from
the harbour at Fiume in the afternoon is delightful,
the mass of Monte Syss on Cherso guarding the entrance
to the Quarnero on one side, while the many spurs of
the Monte Maggiore range on the other troop to the
sea, blue in the shadow, and paling and lowering with
greater distance.

WINE-BOATS IN THE FIUMARA CANAL, FIUME

To face page 163

XIV

FIUME AND VEGLIA

Fiume is one of the few towns along the coast in which
the Italians are in the majority. It lies at the north-
eastern end of the Bay of the Quarnero, and is the chief
seaport of Hungary, to which it has belonged in the
main since the beginning of the twelfth century ; and
permanently since 1870. Though it was a thriving
town in the Middle Ages, and existed in Roman times,
there is very little to be seen older than the period of
the late Renaissance. It is a busy modern town, and
for the archaeologist is merely a convenient place of
departure for other more interesting sites, though there
is some picturesqueness of costume and situation about
it ; and the Englishman is pleased to see many ships with
the national flag, and to know that one of the great
industries of the place is the Whitehead torpedo factory.
The Tarsia, as the Rjeka was called, gave the name of
Tarsatica to the ancient Liburnian city. The Romans
built a castle on the bank of the stream to rein in
the ferocious Gepids. Round this castle the ancient
Tarsatica grew up. The only Roman remains existing
are : a triumphal arch said to have been erected in
honour of the Emperor Claudius II., Gothicus (268-270),
which resembles the Arco di Riccardo, Trieste, in its
situation on the side of the hill in the old city, but is
much less ornamented and more dilapidated ; some
remains of Roman construction in the Castle of the

163

164

FIUME AND VEGLIA

Frangipani ; and at the top of the hill above the Porto
di Martinschizza (called " Solin "), the remains of
another Roman fortress, which protected the city to
the east, commanding the ravine of La Draga, a mile
and a half from Tarsatto. Tarsatica was destroyed
in 799 by Charlemagne.

The wine-quay, by the Porto Canale, Fiumara, is

STALL ON THE WINE-QUAY, FIUME

shaded pleasantly with trees, and always busy with its
own particular trade, supplemented by stalls at which
various goods are offered for sale. Close by is a street,
which in the spring is bright with Judas-trees in flower.
The ravine down which the stream flows has always
been the boundary of the Croatian kingdom. On the
further side is the ascent of 410 steps to the pilgrimage

THE MADONNA DEL TARSATTO 165

church of the Madonna del Tarsatto, on one of the spurs
of the hills which surround the city ; an ascent which
devout pilgrims are said to have negotiated on their
knees. A chronogram over the church door gives the
date 1730, but it was founded in 1453 by one of
the Frangipani counts on the site once occupied by the
Nazareth House now at Loreto, the tradition being
that this rested here for three years and seven
months, from 1291 to 1294 ; and in a dark passage
behind the high-altar a room is still shown said to be
a part of it.

The church contains a picture of the Madonna and
Child, ascribed as usual to S. Luke, of which a little
copy hangs by the choir arch in the aisle ; the two
heads and hands are painted. The rest is covered with
silver-gilt plates modelled in low relief to represent the
drapery, nimbi, &c. Near the high-altar are frescoes
with Latin inscriptions, of no great interest, also two
great silver candlesticks and portions of Turkish
harness, gifts of the Emperor Leopold I. The pillars
are hung with the votive offerings of rescued mariners.
The church has only one aisle, to the north. At the
west end is an organ gallery on slight columns with
fifteenth-century carving. The choir has a fine seven-
teenth-century wrought-iron grille with two amorini,
a crown and heart, &c, interwoven with scrolls, gilded
and painted. The beaten work is mixed with scrolls
of flat thin material between strong uprights and cross
pieces. At the height of the face of a kneeling figure
is a row of small balusters. The upper portion is
painted white.

In front of the church is an avenue of horse-chest-
nuts, and on a spur of hill to the left is the Castle of
Tarsatto, once belonging to the Frangipani, now in the
possession of Count Nugent, and completely restored.
In the castle is a collection of statues from Minturnum,

1 66 FIUME AND VEGLIA

a gift of Ferdinand I. of Naples to Field-Marshal
Nugent. From it a flight of steps conducts to a plea-
sant field-path which rounds the shoulder of the next
hill and brings one back to the steps by which the
church is reached. The view from the plateau is very
extensive, the islands of Veglia and Cherso, in con-
junction with the spurs of Monte Maggiore, seeming
almost to enclose the sea, while to the south the Velebit
range towers, generally cloud-capped.

The church of SS. Vito and Modesto was built in
1631 after the pattern of S. Maria della Salute. In the
wall by the entrance is a cannon-ball, a memento of
the English bombardment of 1813. On the quays
there is to be seen much the same mixture of types
and costumes as at Trieste. The country people wear
a black loose coat with sleeves, over a kind of sweater
which hangs below it ; the trousers resemble broad
breeches with a bit of loose stocking showing above
the shoe. The rawhide shoes are of the same kind
as those worn at Grado, at Monte S. Angelo across
the water, and all over the country further south,
pointed in shape and turned up at the toes, generally
brown, with the upper part covered with lacing.
On the men's heads are little caps, black, brown,
or red.

While we were having dinner in the Piazza Adamich
a military band came and played two morceaux ;
after which they marched off to the accompaniment
of music, looking very picturesque, with the light
from candles in lanterns hanging from staves flashing
from the brazen instruments and lighting up the
coloured uniforms against the dim background of
garden and distant house.

The islands of Cherso and Veglia divide the Quar-
rero into three channels: that between Istria and Cherso,
the Canale di Farasina ; between Cherso and Veglia,

THE USCOCS OF ZENGG 167

the Canale di Mezzo (becoming the Quarnerolo further
south) ; and between Veglia and the Croatian mainland,
the Canale di Maltempo or della Morlacca, in front of
which the little island of S. Marco lies. The scenery
of the last-named channel is much finer than the
Quarnerolo, and its interest is enhanced because
the steamer passes Segna or Zengg, the rocky nest of
the Uscocs, the pirates who were so troublesome in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ; but its first name,
the Canal of Evil Weather, is an accurate description
of what may be expected, since here the " Bora " blows
with the greatest fury, making it the most dangerous
part of the whole coast. There is scarcely enough of
interest in the town itself to make it worthy of a visit,
since the picturesque and horrible exploits of its
savage inhabitants (which are its chief title to fame)
may be read in the histories of the Uscocs. They were
refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina, driven out by
the Turks ; the word " Scochi " in Slav meaning exiles
or fugitives. Their first establishment was at Clissa,
near Spalato, under Pietro Crussich, lord of Lupoglavo
in Istria. From this place they made raids on the
Turks, who at last collected an army and besieged the
place for a year. The castellan was killed in a sortie,
and the castle surrendered in 1537. They then retired
to Segna, where they were received and paid by the
Emperor. The original band numbered only five
or six hundred, but they had with them many assist-
ants, Dalmatians banished by the Venetians or escaped
from the galleys, and brigands of other nations, as well
as indigenous camp-followers. At first they only
attacked the Turks, more or less straightforwardly, but
gradually became mere pirates. The Venetians fought
fruitlessly against them for some time, and finally
became embroiled with Austria over the question.
They were most daring in their enterprises. On

168 FIUME AND VEGLIA

January 19, 1599, eight hundred of them disembarked
at Portolungo and assaulted Albona. They had
entered the suburb, when the citizens rushed to arms,
led by the valiant parish priest Don Priamo Luciani
Cristoforo Negri, and succeeded in beating them off.
They then retired on Fianona, which they took by
surprise, established themselves there, hoisted the
Austrian flag, and obliged the inhabitants to swear
fealty to Austria. One man who refused, Gaspare
Calovanich, they flayed alive ! Many other outrages
were committed, shipping was attacked, and sailors
robbed. The war which followed only ended with the
peace of Madrid, September 26, 1617, by the provisions
of which the Uscocs were to be interned and scattered
over the Austrian provinces, and their ships destroyed ;
whilst the Venetians were to restore conquered places
to Austria. A few of the Uscocs who were left at Segna
went on in their evil ways, and in February, 1619, took
a Venetian ship with 4,000 zecchins-worth of cargo.
The Republic made a claim, and Austria punished
them with death and restored the booty. This was
the last of their raids. Sir Gardner Wilkinson says
that out of a number hanged in 1618 nine were English-
men, of whom six were gentlemen.

They are described as being without discipline, but
ready to follow their captains blindly. They feared
no fatigue, climbed the rocks like cats, slept in the
open air, preferred tactics of surprise, and cared for
nothing but the satisfaction of their cupidity. Some
were dressed gipsy-fashion, with arms and breast bare.
The bulk, however, wore a dress resembling that of the
Morlacchi — tight hose, shoes of cord or rawhide, a red-
brown waistcoat without sleeves, and a red felt cap on
the head. They wore their hair in long locks, with
wild-looking moustaches, had earrings of iron or silver,
and their weapons were semicircular axes, and knives

VICTORY OF OCTAVIAN 169

which they carried in their girdles. Altogether a fear-
some crew to have to do with !

Segna belonged to the Counts Frangipani, whose
eyrie was fixed at Castel Muschio on the island of
Veglia. It is near the northern end above a wide bay
on the sea side of a broken plateau, partly crowned
with fortress-walls, in front of which a few houses
sparkle white in the sun. Only one tower remains,
with doors on first and second-floor level and a S.
Mark's lion in relief. The island was the ancient
Curicta, near which there was a sea-fight between
the ships of Caesar and Pompey in 49 b.c,, when the
Istrians took the part of the latter. The Caesarian fleet
under Dolabella was destroyed, and Caius Antonius,
Caesar's general, was shut up in Veglia, where he was
encamped with two legions. The soldiers constructed
three rafts made of two rows of boats fastened together
with chains, and with a platform of beams upon them,
and a great tower at one end, by means of which the
rowers were to be protected and the enemy attacked.
Octavian, Pompey' s admiral, retired behind Cherso,
but left the channel fouled with ropes and chains
fastened to the rocks. In the afternoon the rafts
which had been launched reached the narrow part of
the strait. The two smaller ones got through, but the
largest stuck. Octavian then attacked. On the big
raft were one thousand Opitergian colonists, under the
captaincy of the tribune Vulteius. They fought till
night, when, seeing that their case was hopeless, they
determined to die rather than surrender. At dawn the
struggle recommenced, the Istrians joining in the
attack. The end was the suicide of Vulteius and his
followers, and the surrender of the cohorts on the
island.

From 1 126 the islands of the Ouarnero belonged to
Venice, but the peace of Zara in 1358 ceded Dalmatia

170 FIUME AND VEGLIA

to Hungary and Veglia with it ; and, when Ladislas sold
Dalmatia to Venice in 1409, Veglia was excluded, being
formally ceded by the last Count Giovanni in 1480.
Nicholas Frangipani, who was count in 1409, had nine
sons, and left his property equally divided among them,
so that there were nine counts of Veglia at the same
time. Giovanni, the eldest, to make himself secure
against his brothers, put himself under the protection
of Venice in 1452, married a daughter of Paolo Moro-
sini, and published his will in 1453, by which he left
the island to the Republic if he died without issue, thus
making it clear to his brothers that he was determined
that they should never have the island, and that if
they tried to take it by force he would be protected by
Venice. At the same time he swore to the inhabitants
to preserve their ancient laws and customs. He had
no intention of keeping his word in any particular, and
played off Matthias Corvinus, king of Hungary, against
Venice in the most unblushing manner, making trai-
torous suggestions to both sides alike, and attacking
the towns of either party alternately. His subjects,
being much oppressed, invited the Hungarian general,
Magiar Bias, to invade the island in 1480, saying that
he would be received as a Messiah. He came and
attacked Castel Muschio ; but the count invoked the
protection of Venice. A few days later Veglia was
bombarded by the Hungarians, the Venetian galleys
not being able to render much assistance. The people
refused to fight, saying that they preferred to have even
Turks as rulers rather than their count. After con-
sultation with the Venetian officers they were sum-
moned to the Palazzo Pubblico ; and the count told
them that he was the servant of Venice, and that they
must swear fealty to the Republic and would be pro-
tected. Accordingly the oath was taken by all, and
the Hungarians were obliged to make terms. They

THE LAST OF THE FRANGIPANI 171

were allowed to return safely to the mainland. The
count then began to threaten those of his subjects
who had been in favour of the Hungarians, and many
fled in fear. The captain-general of the Venetians, as
corrective, published an order authorising the inhabit-
ants to kill any of the count's people who molested
them. Count Giovanni bit his lips, determining to be
revenged when the captain-general had gone, but
never had the chance, as he was carried off to Venice,
at which the Veglians rang the bells for joy. The
Venetians set matters in order ; but the count wrote
letters saying that he would soon return to Veglia and
punish all traitors ; in consequence of which the
Veglians assured the governor that, should he do so,
they would either call in the Turks or leave the island
waste and uninhabited. To solve the difficulty the
Venetians pensioned him off. He became, however,
soon dissatisfied with the amount and fled from
Venice, his disappearance being regretted by no one.
He was an abominable character, and among the evil
deeds of which he was guilty was the making of false
seals to enable him to forge documents.

A considerable portion of the walls built by the
Venetians round the town still remains, overgrown with
ivy, and the city is still entered by the old gate-open-
ings, the Porta di Su and the Porta Pisani, though
the actual gateways have disappeared. On one of the
towers guarding the latter is a rather fine relief of the
Venetian lion. Close to the cathedral is the castle of
the Frangipani, two of the towers being within the
bishop's garden. The sea washes the rocks on which
they are built, and in time of storm the spray flies over
the curtain wall.

Our prowlings around the walls attracted the
attention of two guards, who, after following us for
some time, stopped us to question our proceedings.

172

FIUME AND VEGLIA

The production of the Statthalter's letter which I
carried with me satisfied them that we had no nefarious
designs, and it was returned to me with the remark
(made rather regretfully, I thought) that it was all " in
order." Travellers will find it advantageous to obtain
some kind of " permit " if their tastes are likely to lead
to the exhibition of unusual curiosity in relation to
buildings and their surroundings.

The cathedral, erected in 1133 in thanksgiving for
a great victory over Corsairs gained with the assistance
of Venice, was therefore dedicated to S. Mark. It
consists of nave and aisles with an apse of five sides of

VEGLIA, SHOWING THE CASTLE TOWERS

an octagon, which bears the date of 1688. The nave
arcade is semicircular, the arches varying in height,
some being stilted, and rests upon sixteen columns of
granite, Istrian stone, red marble of the island, and
pavonazzetto. Several are in more than one piece,
one or two are made up to the requisite height with
another stone, and two are octagonal. Most of them
have but the slightest projection for base, the level of
the pavement having apparently been raised. Most
of the caps have Byzantine thistly acanthus worked
with great use of the drill, one has quaint gambolling
beasts and birds within arched forms in place of foliage,
which show imitation of Oriental ornamental forms,

SOUTH PORTION OF CHOIR-SCREEN, CATHEDRAL, VEGLIA

To face page 173

THE CATHEDRAL 173

and one, which has hollows for inlays of squares and
diamonds, bounded by the leaf shapes, is exactly like
one in the pergola of the director's house at Salona,
which came from the campanile, Spalato. There is
a fine early Renaissance choir-screen with an ambo at
each side, made of the red variegated marble of the
island; an angel of white marble supports the book-
rest. To the north of this screen is a rather late Gothic
chapel with apse of three sides and Heme vaulting.
It has octagonal wall shafts and shields as bosses, with
devices upon them, and the arms of the Frangipani.
The place of the altar still shows on the pavement, and
it has been suggested that the silver pala belonged to
this chapel. Two more chapels open from the south
aisle through Venetian slightly ogee arches, with
saints at the top emergent from leaves, and a cable
moulding within and dentils without. In one, the
columns have been replaced by Renaissance half-
columns; in the other, the fourteenth-century shafts still
remain. In the choir are two fine Gothic tomb slabs,
commemorating a fourteenth-century bishop and an
arch-priest (1494), and other slabs with coats of arms
in high relief.

The silver pala is preserved just within the west
door upon the south wall, behind glass in tolerably
large sheets, so that it can be easily studied. The
present parroco replaced the old heavy wooden framing
by one of lighter construction. It is thought to have
been a triptych originally. Each of the wings has ten
figures in two rows of five, one above the other — twenty
in all. On the right S. Peter occupies the middle of the
top row with S. John the Baptist below ; on the left are
S. Paul and S. Nicholas in the corresponding places.
All the figures stand on brackets. The upper centre is
occupied by the Madonna and Child standing on the
crescent moon ; below is the Coronation of the Virgin ;

174 FIUME AND VEGLIA

the other four niches have figures of angels, three
half-lengths in each, one above the other. SS. Jerome
and George are recognisable among the other saints.
The heads are much too large, and the figure-work is
coarse. The niches are tref oiled and ogee-headed, with
crockets and finials and octagonal colonnettes between,
springing from corbels, and crowned with imbricated
pinnacles ; they have piercings resembling window
tracery, with rosettes between each repetition. The
bar which divides the two ranges of figures, and the
frame have very beautiful triple rows of vine-scrolling
in exceedingly low relief, which is quite lost at a little
distance. An inscription gives the name of Peter
Grimani and the date of 1742 ; but this must refer to a
restoration, as the style suggests the fifteenth century,
and would agree quite well with the date 1405, when
one of the Frangipani is recorded to have established
the chapel of S. Vito in the cathedral. The treasury
now contains nothing of importance — at least, in-
quiries only produced a showy processional cross of
the seventeenth century.

The cathedral is entered from an archway beneath
the campanile ; on the other side of the arch is the
church of S. Quirinus, a Romanesque building in two
stories. The lower portion is now a wine-store ; the
upper, reached by steps, is vaulted like a crypt, nine
spans resting on four low columns. It has been
modernised, but the three apses are untouched ex-
ternally, crowned with a corbelled arcuated cornice, the
centre one being the largest. The cathedral has a door-
way on the south side not now used ; the round arch
has a torus moulding, pilaster strips, and caps beneath
a gabled hood, made of the local marble and bleached
by the sun to a delightful varied yellow.

Close to the Porta di Su is another Romanesque
church — S. Maria. The interior has been modernised,

LATER BUILDINGS 175

though a few caps resembling those in the cathedral
remain ; but the tower (at the west end) has two stories,
with two circular-headed windows with buttress be-
tween unspoilt. At the other side of the road is S.
Francesco, which has a tower of five stories near the
east end, and long trefoil-headed windows. The high-
altar-piece in this church (a Madonna with saints) is
ascribed to Pordenone (1531), and there is an interesting
pulpit with five marquetry panels, S. Francis receiving
the stigmata in the centre, and personifications of four
Christian graces in the others, good work of the seven-
teenth century.

The Venetian clock-tower, now a cafe, bears the
date 1493 on a panel of the winged lion above the
pointed arch, but must be earlier than that date, as it
also bears the Frangipani escutcheon. The loggia was
behind it. In this piazza are carved panels from a
Venetian well or fountain, with an inscription of 1558
ascribing its erection to Antonio Gradenigo, swags of
flowers and fruit, a S. Mark's lion with a tower by the
sea, &c. ; and in the walls here and there are encrusted
a few antique inscriptions.

A walk of about forty minutes brings one to the
shore of Val Cassione, a nearly semicircular bay with
only a narrow entrance from the Quarnerolo. The
water is generally smooth like a pond, the mountain of
Treskavac, which rises to the north-east, sheltering it.
The island of Zoccolante, girdled with ilex and maples,
lies opposite the village of Ponte, and on it is the
Franciscan monastery of Cassione. A pergola shelters
the path from the boat-house to the porch, and the
cloister is full of flowers and bushes. The church has
an altar-piece by Girolamo da S. Croce, signed and
dated 1535, and a Raffaellesque Virgin and sleeping
Child. The library contains a few early printed books.
Throughout the island, except in this convent and in

176 FIUME AND VEGLIA

the town of Veglia, the Slav liturgy, granted by Pope
John VIII. (872-882), is in use.

The usual route to Castel Muschio and Veglia is
from Fiume, but one of our visits was made from Arbe
to Besca Nova, a most picturesque and equally evil-
smelling port, sheltered by widely stretching rocky
points (one of which bears the appropriate name of
Punta Scoglia), which rise to mountainous masses
behind the little town, with a modern cemetery chapel
on one of the lower spurs. The houses straggle round
the curve of the shore, with groups of trees here and
there, and little creeks running up into the land, crossed
by narrow bridges ; the streets, mere alleys often,
scarcely permitting two persons to pass each other, rise
to a church round which they cluster more thickly. At
this end of the town the houses cling to the side of the
hill above and below the street, and are approached
by steps which descend to the front, though there are
also doors on the street level convenient for elopements,
and wonderful great chimneys of great originality and
variety. There were a good many boats in the harbour,
and we had an excellent opportunity of seeing it from
all points of view, for the pier at which the steamer
stops is at one horn of the bay, and it is a walk of a
quarter of an hour to the indifferent inn. We asked
a couple of gentlemen who were coming out if we could
get anything to eat there, and they replied : " Oh yes,
if you go at once." We found, however, that we must
order what we wanted and wait until it was cooked, so
we left the civil padrona to her labours, and immediately
were mobbed by a crowd of children to whom strangers
were a godsend. A gendarme approached and asked
for our credentials, but, being satisfied that we were not
dangerous, offered to assist us in any way he could, and
we found that the children disappeared for a time. I
made inquiries of him as to a couple of pictures

.THE MAIN STREET, BESCA NOVA

To face page 177
\

AN EVENING DRIVE 177

ascribed to Vivarini and Basaiti, which I understood
were in the town, but he knew nothing about them.
The Vivarini is a Madonna enthroned with two child
angels at her feet, with three saints on either side of
her and angels holding the baldacchino.

On our return to the inn the question of a carriage
to Veglia engaged our attention. There was an officer
of some kind in the room, who had taken one of the
three carriages which appear to compose the transport
of Besca Nova and declined to share it. The second
was under repair, one of its wheels being in the hands
of the wheelwright on the ground in front of the inn.
The third had been engaged by two Italian gentlemen,
father and son, and its appearance suggested doubts as
to whether it would take five persons and our luggage
over the backbone of the island. There was a diligence,
but it started at 2 a.m., and the drivers tried to per-
suade us to sleep at Besca, saying they could take us
on at 6 a.m. The dejeuner we had had, however,
inspired so little confidence that we determined to
get on to Veglia that night, sharing the third carriage
with the Italians, though in the end we did not
benefit very much by the arrangement. As the
shadows began to lengthen, the horses were put to, the
harness being supplemented with bits of rope in some
places, and we packed ourselves and our belongings
into the carriage, finding our fellow-travellers very
pleasant companions. The narrow road runs up a
rocky valley, at first with a considerable space of
cultivated land on each side, vineyards and grain
occupying the greater part ; and before long Besca
Valle came in sight, a barbarous-looking village, with
curious reed-thatched huts for styes and cart-hovels,
and with whitewashed walls to the houses which stood
upon unparapeted terraces supported on great arches
used for storage of different kinds. In the church of

178 FIUME AND VEGLIA

S. Lucia, some distance away, is the earliest Glagolitic
inscription known. Our driver appeared to be on
familiar terms with most of the population, and was
continually calling out greetings to people some distance
from the road.

The valley narrowed and the rocks rose higher, the
clear bright green Fiumera foamed and tumbled in its
rocky bed, and we passed a picturesque mill astride of
it, backed up with trees. Soon the driver called our
attention to a great rock hanging from the cliff which
seemed as if its fall from the height was merely a matter
of moments, but which had looked so, he said, for years.
The continuous climb was interrupted by a wooded
depression through which the road wound ; it then
crossed the stream and commenced a long ascent
continuing for more than a mile, which we negotiated
on foot. As we rose higher the view expanded, and
we found it pleasant to turn and gaze at it, warm in the
sunset-glow. The Velebit Mountains, with their sum-
mits hidden in the clouds, blushed a beautiful warm
rose colour, while Arbe and the nearer island of Per-
vicchio which shelters the harbour, rather more orange
in colour, contrasted with the pale sapphire of the
sea, each increasing the brilliancy of the other. The
shadowed valley at our feet, with mill, stream, and dark
trees, enhanced the brightness of the distance and of the
final glow upon Besca Nova, where the curve of its
houses embraced the bay with chains of orange and
cream colour.

A solitary horseman passed us while we were sur-
mounting the stony waste through which the higher
portion of the road winds, a greyish and reddish
variegated marble used in buildings in the island,
and just at the summit we met the diligence on its
way to Besca. The sunset was superb, the glow of the
sky reflected in the sea, with Cherso dark againstit

CHIMNEYS AT BESCA NOVA

To face page 178

DESCENT INTO VEGLIA 179

and the shores of Veglia laid out below us, showing
Ponte and the Convent of Cassione, and Veglia beyond
almost hidden in trees. As we descended the long
slope the colour faded from the sky, and long before
we reached the town of Veglia nothing could be dis-
cerned but the silhouettes of branch and leaf against
the sky.

OSSERO AND CHERSO

On one of our journeys we went by boat from Trieste
to Lussin Piccolo, stopping only at Pola. It was just
before Easter, and many sailors from the fleet were
going home for a holiday. The quay was crowded with
passengers, and a queerly shaped engine, belching
forth thick smoke, with train attached, was drawn
up behind them. This we thought a fair subject for a
snap-shot, but the production of the camera attracted
the attention of a policeman who would not be satisfied
until it was put away, though the arsenal was behind
us. The sailors swarmed on board and filled the whole
fore part of the boat — fine-looking fellows for the most
part, and very good-humoured. Their kits were done
up in handkerchiefs with the map of Europe printed on
them in red, blue, or buff. They were full of jokes, and
were, in fact, just like a lot of big schoolboys. Some
of them gathered in a ring and sang in parts for some
time ; the music sounded better a little way off than
near. There were also Montenegrins on board who had
been working on some railway in course of construction.
One of them, had two pairs of corduroy trousers on, the
upper whitish, the under the usual brown-green.

Lussin Piccolo lies at the head of a deep bay, and
climbs the ridge along which the road runs to Lussin
Grande, a place which is now much smaller than its
neighbour, but more picturesque and pleasant. The

1 80

LUSSIN PICCOLO 181

bigger hotels are at Lussin Piccolo, where the larger
harbour allows the steamers to call. It has become a
winter residence for Russians and Austrians ; and the
keeper of the largest cafe told us that many of the
former came, instancing an officer of the guards who
stayed six months, and told him he was better off there
than in St. Petersburg, or indeed Manchuria, where he
expected to be sent if he returned ! The harbour is
called Val d'Augusto, because the fleet of the Emperor
Augustus is said to have remained at anchor there for
a whole winter. It may be true, for at the battle of
Actium his fleet was principally manned by Dalmatians.
From above the town the view looking towards Ossero
is rather fine, the summits of the hills along the spine
of the island rising one beyond the other, culminating
in Monte Ossero, paling and getting bluer with greater
distance. The sea, of a blue quite different in its
quality, runs into the land in many little inlets,
while beyond are Veglia and the mainland mountains
often capped with clouds.

The road to Lussin Grande runs along the slope of
the hills, rounding tree-clad spurs and diving into
hollows, with frequent peeps down into little coves
where boats are drawn up. In one of these a little
fellow was paddling himself about in a tub. On seeing
us looking at him, he raised the usual boatman's cry,
" Barca, barca, Signori, per Lussin Grande/ ' and burst
into a peal of laughter, in which we joined. The port
is delightfully picturesque ; at the entrance is a church
approached by a flight of steps, with a terrace and
cypresses, towards which nuns were wending their way
for " benediction " ; the sun glowed upon white walls,
dark trees, and tiled roofs ; while the harbour in shadow,
full of boats rich with the colour of nets and sails, and
the reflections of the blue sky upon its rippled* surface,
afforded an attractive contrast. One round tower of

1 82 OSSERO AND CHERSO

the walls remains, built of stone, with machicolations
and Ghibelline battlements added in brick and plas-
tered ; a modern slab over the door gives the date 1455.
A kind of public garden called the Piazza del Pozzo, from
an old rope- worn well within it, contains many different
kinds of flowering and shady trees with seats beneath
them, and aloes grow on the rocks above the entrance
to the harbour on both sides. The town contains
several fine houses, and in the churches are a few
interesting pictures, though architecturally they are
not very noticeable. One of them has a curious tiled
ogee-shaped dome over the sanctuary. The pictures
are : in S. Nicold, a Byzantine Madonna and Child
with S. Joseph ; in S. Maria degli Angeli, a Bartolom-
meo Vivarini — God the Father above, surrounded by
angels ; below, an enthroned Madonna with SS. Augus-
tine, Catherine, and Cicely on one side ; on the other,
SS. Agnes, Jerome, and Lucy : the picture is dated
1475. There are also a Pietro della Vaccina called a
Titian, and a few others.

The women wear a curious head-dress something
like a turban with a long end hanging down the back ;
they generally have a loose sleeveless jacket over a
white full-sleeved blouse and a skirt in many pleats
and often of many colours, and an apron ; sometimes
a handkerchief is thrown over the head instead of the
head-dress. They also wear elaborate earrings, a
number of rings fastened together with a drop below,
all of metal.

From Lussin Piccolo we drove in the opposite
direction to Ossero, the ancient Apsoros or Auxerrum,
following a narrow road through olive-yards, along the
shore or some way up the hill among a bewildering
variety and luxuriance of vegetation. On the island,
which is about eighteen miles long, though nowhere
more than two in breadth and seldom more than one,

WEST DOOR OF THE COLLEGGIATA, OSSERO

To face page 183

A DRIVE TO OSSERO 183

there are three villages besides the two Lussins. They
are Neresine, Chiunschi, and S. Giacomo. At Neresine
we were told that there was an English-speaking
landlady. So we looked her up at the " Gasthaus
Amicorum." We found that she and her husband had
been in America, and were told several strange stories
of curious occurrences which she had known of while
there, especially with regard to the drugging of drinks,
which made one think she must find her life rather
lacking in excitement in this little out-of-the-way place
where she was apparently going to end her days. There
is a Franciscan convent here with a handsome cam-
panile looking much more ancient than its date (1590-
1604), with double lights and a balustrade round the
top. In the church are pictures attributed to Girolamo
da Santa Croce and the younger Palma. The ascent
of Monte Ossero may be made from here (1,900 ft.).
The top is a bare, stony wilderness like the backbone
of Veglia.

The weather was lovely, and we constantly came
upon subjects which would tempt the artist to stop
and sketch — a monk seated under an olive-tree in the
shade ; cattle and sheep tethered to the grey trunks,
grouping themselves as they clustered for company ;
a boat under sail seen through the branches of the trees
against a headland on the more distant hills of Arbe
and the mainland ; and so on. The hillside was clothed
with bushes and plants in flower, among which we
recognised the oleander, white rose, juniper, laurus-
tinus, fig-trees, ilex, cypress, strawberry arbutus, a
small-leaved myrtle, grape hyacinths thick on the
ground, giant and quite small spurges, a euphorbia
with thorny trailing stems and heart-shaped leaves,
great ericas as high as a man, in some places cyclamen
in clumps by the wayside like daisies, a bush trifolium
something like cytisus but scentless, thyme, and a kind

1 84 OSSERO AND CHERSO

of sage, while the bay-trees were so fully in bloom that
they looked a pale yellowish green instead of their
usual colour. Just before we reached the bridge
connecting the islands of Ossero and Cherso, which has
to be crossed before the town of Ossero is reached,
great banks of spurge made the roadside as yellow as
fields full of charlock in England.

In a wall at the entrance of the town the S. Mark's
lion still watches, though the two fortresses which
report says were here are no longer traceable. The
cathedral is Lombardesque in style, built by Bishop
Antonio Palcic (1465-1474), and has a rather pretty
doorway ascribed to George of Sebenico, who was
certainly employed by him upon other works, and a
massive campanile of 1675, which dominates the place.
The nave is five bays long, the arcade is round-arched
with pretty caps and ornamented archivolts, and the
floor is paved with red and white marble in chequers.
The holy-water basins are simple, and the columns of
the ciborium rest on two red marble caps of the four-
teenth century upside down, one. base of the same and
one of the Lombardi period, showing the use of older
material. The church still retains a fine monstrance,
one or two other pieces of silver-work, and some em-
broidered vestments, though no longer the seat of a
bishop, and over the high-altar is a picture of the school
of Titian. The monstrance is late Gothic, with a foot
added in the seventeenth century. It is decorated with
many niches and figures, and a fine cresting round the
domical top. The curved surfaces above and below
the glass tube have scroll-work upon a blue enamel
ground, part of which has come away. In these places
there is no sign of pattern upon the silver, but only a
general cross-patching showing that the arabesques
and other patterns were not soldered to the ground
beneath, but only arranged with the enamel flux before

MONSTRANCE IN COLLEGGIATA, OSSERO

To face page 184

ANTIQUITIES AT OSSERO 185

firing. The architectural details are gilded, the rest
is silver.

There are some remains of Roman walls still
traceable, between which and the mediaeval walls is
the site of a large seven-aisled church, perhaps a pair
of twin basilicas. Upon the ruins of the seventh aisle
the present church of S. Maria was erected, and within
it the ancient bishop's throne, constructed of fragments
of ninth-century carved slabs, was still preserved till a
few years ago. It was only after persistent inquiries
that we found it in a store-shed with other fragments of
ninth-century carving and some Roman antiquities
thought of little importance, though the inscriptions
and other marble fragments and the stone funerary
urns are in their company. In the show museum are
Roman fragments, lamps, Pansiana pottery stamps,
bronze vessels and utensils, iron fragments, glass
phials, &c. On the hill, not far off, prehistoric tombs
with interesting objects have been found ; but the
greater part of the finds have been sent to more im-
portant museums.

The sea-passage, which is crossed by a swing bridge,
is [called the "Cavanella di Ossero" ; through it a
strong current runs. The island of Cherso, the ancient
Apsirtide, is a miniature of Monte Maggiore, with some
fine mountain scenery in it, and a curious fresh-water
lake, the surface of which is only 50 ft. above sea-level,
though it is 225 ft. deep in some parts. The finest
mountain scenery is near Smergo, where the rock rises
sheer from the water to the height of 1,000 ft. Here is
the " Dirupo di Smergo," a cave with a domed top. At
one time the sea broke into it, laying bare the interior,
which is like a giant amphitheatre with ribbed roof and
sides. The fragments then detached lie at the foot of
the rock, making a wall between the sea and the cave.
The city of Cherso is best reached from Pola or Fiume.

1 86 OSSERO AND CHERSO

It lies at the head of a winding inlet, protected by a
round tower at the point, a relic of the fortifications of
an earlier period. It belonged to Venice from 1126 or
1 130 till 1358, becoming finally Venetian in 1409, and
was granted in feud to various patrician families, so
that all the objects of art in the city show distinct
traces of Venetian influence. The piazza by the
harbour is triangular in shape, the narrow streets, with
many picturesque houses in them, climb the hillside
from the water, and the ancient walls remain on the
land side. The loggia is a simple seventeenth-century
building supported on six stone piers ; in the back
wall are encrusted two inscriptions — one Roman, one
mediaeval. The cathedral was burnt in 1827, but the
west door still remains, very closely resembling that
of Ossero. A picture by Alvise Vivarini is preserved
in the priest's house — a Madonna with SS. Sebastian
and Catherine, and SS. Christopher and Cosmas.

In the chapel of the Mother of God is a Byzantine
Madonna and Child on a gold ground. The carnations
are brownish ; there is a cross on the breast and on both
sides of the head, with the Greek monogram MH ©T.
There are also some fine stalls in the church of the
Franciscan monastery ; but there is not very much of
interest in the town except the numerous Venetian
houses.

SMERGO FISHERMEN

To face page 186

XVI

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DALMAT1A

The history of Dalmatia is obscure and confused for a
great part of its course. That there were Greek and
Phoenician colonies along the coast and on the islands
is certain ; the earliest of the former was that founded
by the Syracusans in Issa (Lissa) in 390 B.C. A Cy-
clopean building, the so-called Gradina Gate at Gelsa,
is attributable either to this colony or to that of 385
B.C. in the ancient Pharia (Lesina). Tragurium (Trau)
and Epetium (Stobrec) were daughter colonies of Issa.
The largest number of inscriptions and coins have been
found on Lesina and Lissa. Celts were in the country
from about the same period. The Roman conquest
was brought about by the appeal of the people of Issa
for help against the powerful native queen Teuta.
Illyria, south of the Narenta, became a Roman province
in 168 B.C., though war with the inland tribes continued
till 34 B.C., when Augustus took the ships of the pirates
of Curzola and Meleda and the Liburnians, and con-
quered the inland tribes at Promona — eight long and
disastrous campaigns in all. There was, however,
another revolt in 6 a.d., when the danger to Rome was
so great (800,000 men being in rebellion) that Augustus
sent seven legions under such generals as Tiberius,
Germanicus, and Postumius, who took several years
to overcome their resistance, so that it was not till
12 a.d. that Tiberius enjoyed his triumph. Some of

187

188 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DALMATIA

the cities were made municipia, and some colonies,
and from this time Dalmatia was loyal to Rome. The
Antonines erected important buildings in Jadera and
Burnum, and they also fortified Salona.

Roman Dalmatia included the whole coast from
Istria to the Drina, part of Albania, all Montenegro,
Herzegovina, Croatia. Servia, almost all Bosnia, and
some of the islands of the Quarnero. The legions for
the most part remained near the coast, which gradually
increased in commercial prosperity and civilisation ;
broad and safe roads were made to the interior uniting
the Save and the Danube on one side, and the Drina on
the other. From Burnum a road by way of Petrovac
reached the basin of the Save ; from Salona a fan of
carriage-roads spread out — one across the Dinaric Alps
by iEquum and the hill of Prolog to the Danube,
another by the same hill to Livno and Kupres, a third
between Delminum and Serajevo. From Narona (Vid)
the great Roman Road of the Narenta started, and in
Albania was the Via Ignatia from Durazzo and Vallona
to Salonica. The great coast-road from Zara went past
Scardona and Salona to Narona and Scodra ; the inner
land route commenced at Tarsatico (Fiume) and went
by Zengg over the Velebits to Clambeta (near Obro-
vazzo) and Zara, then by Nadinum, Asseria (Pod-
gradje), Burnum, Promona, Municipium Magnum, and
Andetrium to Salona.

Illyricum was divided into Liburnia, from Istria to
the river Kerka, the people belonging to the juridical
Convent of Scardona, which settled the business of
eighty-nine cities ; from the Kerka to the Narenta they
sent their representatives to Salona ; and Illyris
Grseca, from the Narenta to Drilone in Epirus, which
belonged to the juridical Convent of Narona. With
the successive Eastern invasions and the consequent
race differentiations, maritime and inland Dalmatia

EARLY MEDIEVAL PERIOD 189

were separated, and the Turkish conquest made the
Dinaric Alps into a bulwark not to be crossed.

The Illyrians furnished the Romans with many
distinguished soldiers, of whom Claudius Gothicus,
Aurelian, Septimius, Probus, and Carus of Narona were
soldier emperors. Diocletian was the most celebrated.
More than sixty Roman settlements are known. For
about seventy years the country was ruled by the
Goths. After the recovery of Italy by Belisarius and
Narses it belonged to Byzantium from 537, and was
ruled from Ravenna by a catapan at Salona. The war
with Chosroes in 600-614 strained the Byzantine
resources and thus denuded the coast of soldiers, so
that the Avar and Slav inroads met with little re-
sistance under Heraclius (610-640), who had called in
the latter to drive out the Avars ; Narona, Salona,
Epidaurus, Burnum, and Rhizinium were destroyed.
In 641 Pope John IV., a Dalmatian by birth, sent
Abbot John to Istria and Dalmatia to ransom prisoners
and collect relics.

The Croats and Serbs exterminated the Avars in the
middle of the seventh century and delivered the pro-
vince, the Croats occupying the west to the river
Cetina, the Serbs the east from the Cetina to Albania.
Under the Serbs the southern portion was divided into
four zupanje, of which the only name which has
survived is Trebinia, which reached from Cattaro
to Ragusa and included the mountain regions. The
Croat dukes recognised the sovereignty of the Carlo-
vingians, as is proved by the oldest inscription extant,
that of Tripimir (852), being dated by the rule of the
Emperor Lothair. The title of king was assumed by
Muncimir in 914. Two or three of the kings resided
at Nona in the eleventh century — Stepan (f 1052),
Peter Cresimir and Svinimir ( f 1089). The widow of the
last invited her brother Ladislas of Hungary to take

190 HISTORICAL SKETCH OF DALMATIA

the kingdom. In 1097 Coloman I. of Hungary married
the daughter of Roger of Sicily. Under Coloman II.
(1102-1113) the coast towns from Zara to Spalato were
Hungarian, while Ragusa and Cattaro remained under
the protection of Byzantium.

The government of the Dalmatian cities was
democratic to a considerable extent, the oligarchy
embracing a large proportion of the inhabitants, and
the monasteries were expected to contribute to the
common needs and share in the defence of the town.
The supreme official was called prior; judges and tri-
bunes also are mentioned in contemporary documents.
A certain dependence upon the Greek Empire was
recognised, for in Zara the strategos, the catapan, and
the proconsul of Dalmatia appear even after the time
of the Croatian kings. The Venetian doge had the title
of King of Dalmatia given him by the Emperor of
Constantinople about the end of the eleventh century
in return for the help given by the fleet against the
Normans.

During the whole of the twelfth century Venice and
Hungary contested the possession of Dalmatia, victory
inclining to Venice, who, by policing the Adriatic, made
her protection valuable to the coast cities. The pirate
raids from which the coasts suffered were of varied
nationality — Saracen and Turk, Uscoc and bands
of native pirates. Of these latter the Narentans were
the most powerful. They remained pagan till near the
end of the ninth century, and beat off an attack by
Doge Pietro Candiano in 887, killing him. He was
buried in the atrium at Grado. For one hundred and
sixty-eight years they carried on the contest with
Venice, being most powerful during the tenth century,
when Otho I. sought their alliance. They had then
become Christian, and assisted in driving the Saracens
from Monte Gargano. In 992 the confederate Dal-

CROSS AND CRESCENT 191

matian cities asked for the protection of Venice, in
response to which the expedition under Orseolo II. was
fitted out, and broke their power. The population of
the Narenta valley is now but 12,000, in spite of the
facts that Metkovic, near the mouth, is the terminus
of the railway from Serajevo and Mostar, and that
the government has spent much money in dredging
and embankment works at the mouth of the
river. The boundary of Herzegovina is but a mile
from Metkovic, for which it serves as port. Vid, a few
miles away, is the ancient Narona. A good many
inscriptions and antique fragments have been found
there, and are now encrusted in the wall of a house.
For many years Vid was a bulwark of Christianity
against the Turks, and the minarets of a little Turkish
village, Liubuski, in which half the population, male
and female, wear Turkish costume may be seen not
far away.

By the middle of the fourteenth century Lewis of
Hungary had acquired the whole of Dalmatia from
Zara to Cattaro. In 1409-1420 Venice bought the
territory from Hungary, with the exception of Ragusa,
which for some fifty years remained under Hungarian
protection, but after 1467 was protected by Turkey.
In the sixteenth century the Cross and the Crescent
were bitterly opposed ; Austria became the Christian
champion in place of Venice towards the end of the
seventeenth century, and at the fall of the Republic
Istria and Dalmatia were given to her in 1797 by the
treaty of Passerino. From 1806 till 1814 they were
French ; but the peace of Vienna settled their destiny
as forming part of the Austrian dominions, in which
they have remained till the present day.

XVII

ARBE

It was very early in the morning when we arrived at
Arbe the first time ; so early, in fact, that the inn-
keeper was still in bed and had to be interviewed from
his chamber-window, and we had to deposit our
belongings at the door before commencing our ex-
plorations breakfastless. On this occasion we were
unfortunate. The skull of S. Christopher was exposed
on the altar, but the shrine was locked up, and the
parroco had gone into the country to visit a sick man,
with the key in his pocket, while the ciborium was
swathed in festival draperies. We therefore deter-
mined to satisfy ourselves with a cursory inspection,
and arranged to return the next year ; for the steam-
boats are not like suburban trains, missing one of which
merely means a slight delay. Many of the islands have
but one or two services in the week ; and staying for the
next boat may derange the plan of a whole tour.

The city looks most attractive from the sea as one
approaches. It occupies a long tongue of land midway
along the western coast, and the walls drop into the
water both towards the harbour and the open sea.
They are nearly complete in their circuit, but have lost
their battlements and some portions of their substance.
There is a good deal of ruin within them, which makes
the foregrounds uninteresting and squalid. To the
west is a public garden planted with fir-trees, and with

192

jm-.

i"\

(4,H 1-iiP \ i \ i:*.-';v .11 ji ".Alt ^ . J

HOUSES OF THE VENETIAN PERIOD 193

seats here and there. Aloes grow plentifully on the
rocks to the south-west.

In the early Middle Ages Arbe was prosperous owing
to its trade and its position on the high-road between
Venice and the East. The plague of 1456 depopulated
it, and all the richer people fled except the bishop,
Johannes Scaffa, and five canons. In 1463 Bosniaks
flying from the Turks came to increase the population
and were well received, but the town never recovered
its prosperity. The empty streets and ruined houses
and churches near the cathedral testify to the desola-
tion. The style of the houses is Venetian for the most
part, as might be expected, since it was the port of call
for those going to Greece or the Holy Land. Some of
them are very interesting and beautiful. The quay has
several fronting on to it, specially a lofty tower-like
building of the fourteenth century with later windows
and balconies inserted. Many marble coats of arms
may be seen here and there, and the windows and
door-jambs often have charming carved ornaments.
The Palazzo Nemira shows a pleasing combination of
late Gothic and Renaissance detail in pierced panels
and balustrading ; and the parroco lives in a house
which has a good doorway of the usual Venetian-Gothic
type. The house in which Archbishop De Dominis
was born (for some time Dean of Windsor, and cele-
brated for his scientific attainments), a palace of some-
what later date, is now a kind of club and reading-
room, in which the innkeeper apparently has the right
of serving his patrons with meals. The families of
De Dominis and De Hermolais gave many bishops to
the see between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries.
The loggia is well preserved or has been well restored.
Overlooking it is a window from which a parrot screams
insulting remarks to passers-by.

Arbe was known to the ancients as part of Liburnia.

194 ARBE

Pliny mentions it, and so does Porphyrogenitus. There
was a second city in the island in antiquity called
Colento, of which every trace has disappeared. The
island belonged sometimes to the Croats, sometimes to
Byzantium, and sometimes to Hungary, but from 1115
was mainly under the influence of Venice. The
history of the Church goes back to the tenth cen-
tury, but the first bishops' names are uncertain. A
Zaraitan record of 986 mentions a Bishop Petrus.
In 1062 a Bishop Dragus is named as being at the
consecration of S. Pietro in Valle, the oldest Bene-
dictine convent in Arbe. In the communal archives
are preserved the oldest MSS. of the kings of Dalmatia
and Croatia of the tenth century.

The cathedral is a basilica with nave and aisles.
The main apse is octagonal outside and semicircular
within ; the apse to the north aisle also exists ; that of
the south aisle has been replaced by a square chapel.
The nave arcade consists of six bays of round arches,
resting on five pairs of columns which, though they
are made up with plaster and painted, are probably
antique, since the caps differ enormously in height and
column and cap frequently do not fit. Some of the
capitals might be late Roman, but most of them
are very rude imitations. Super-abaci are used. The
ciborium is hexagonal and rests on six columns of
Greek cipollino, with the top and bottom mouldings
worked on them ; the caps are Byzantine of the sixth
or seventh century, but without super-abaci. The front
arches have huge Renaissance swags in the spandrils
and a moulded cornice with classic enrichments ; at the
back are three ninth-century panels with arch and
spandril in one piece, carved with ornament similar to
that on the baptistery of Calixtus at Cividale ; the
pyramidal roof terminates in a carved finial. The
greater part of the building is of the thirteenth century.

INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL 195

The church, having become ruinous in 1237, was restored
in 1287, and again in 1438 and 1490. It is now the
chief parish church of the diocese of Veglia. The west
door belongs to the last restoration ; in the tympanum
is a poorly carved Pieta. It is flanked by some remains
of a flat arcading. The wheel-window above, though
Romanesque in design, bears the date 1439. A pink
marble is used in this facade with very good effect. In
the north wall is a square marble panel with an en-
throned Christ, of Byzantine type, like the ciborium
and the nave columns a relic of an earlier building.
The stalls are fine of their kind, and we were told that
an offer of 50,000 florins and a new set had been made
for them and refused. They are dated 1445, and are
elaborately carved with figures and the usual nerveless
foliage of the period, of which other good examples
occur at Zara and Parenzo. In a chapel in the north
aisle is a polygonal Renaissance font of rather pleasing
design, with S. John the Baptist in the central panel and
fruit, &c, hanging in the others. In the apse of the
north aisle is an early Madonna with the Child, robed
in red and blue with golden diaper patterns ; and over
an altar in the south aisle is an interesting tempera
picture in a frame of the fourteenth century, painted on
a gold ground, with Greek inscriptions and technique.
In the central panel is a Crucifixion, on the left is
S. Matthew, and on the right S. Christopher.

S. Christopher was patron of the town and diocese,
and the greatest relic is his head, now that those of
Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego have disappeared.
The first mention of it occurs in the eleventh century,
when Bishop Dabrana or Domana (1080-1086) brought
it forth with prayers and hymns to deliver Arbe from
an attacking horde which had besieged the city for a
month. A great stone fell from heaven into the camp
of the besiegers on that occasion, and the missiles which

196

ARBE

they shot recoiled upon them. In Arbe, S. Christopher's
Day is kept on May 9, the day of this discomfiture,
instead of July 25 as elsewhere. Other deliverances
took place in 1097 from Coloman of Hungary, and in
1 1 05 from a Hungarian Count Sergius, according to
tradition. The shrine appears to be work of the
twelfth century, and is based on the antique, but betrays

RELIQUARY OF THE HEAD OF S. CHRISTOPHER

Byzantine influence also. It is decorated with gilded
reliefs upon a ground of silver. It is a rectangular
wooden box with a pyramidal lid, to which the silver
plates are nailed. The subjects upon the four sides are :
1. A seated king and an archer shooting at S. Chris-
topher, who is bound to a stake ; the arrows fall de-
flected and broken by the hand of God, which appears
by the saint's head. Above is a canopy supported on

RELIQUARY IN THE CATHEDRAL 197

twisted columns. 2. The saint is beheaded beneath a
canopy ; the hand of God again appears by the headless
trunk. Two soldiers in Roman costume stand by, one
with lance, and the other with raised sword. 3. Three
holy men holding scrolls, barefoot and robed in tunic
and toga. 4. Three holy women, two holding a cross ;
the heads have been restored. All these figures have
large heads, especially those standing under the round-
arched arcade, with alternate twisted and ringed
colonnettes. The lid has repousse subjects upon all
four surfaces : 1. Christ enthroned, blessing and
holding a book, with the monograms IC and XC ; in
the corners the lion and eagle with books. 2. S. John
with the eagle and monogram IONS. 3. S. Chris-
topher, beardless, as a standard-bearer, and with a royal

S.XPO
mantle, with inscription FOR ; at his feet a male

VS
and a female figure — donors probably. 4. The Virgin
standing with monograms MH ©T. An angel with
a book stands near. The skull is surrounded by a
double crown, the outer of gold set with precious stones,
the inner of silver ornamented with lilies. The tradi-
tion is that the reliquary was the gift of Queen Eliza-
beth of Hungary.

In the sacristy are also three strips of champleve
enamel from a destroyed reliquary, with figures of eight
of the Apostles — Matthew, James, Bartholomew, An-
drew, Thomas, Philip, Thaddeus, and Svhon (Simon) —
seated and holding symbols in one hand and churches
in the other (which have central domes sometimes, and
pediments over the doors, while the roofs and towers
look much later than the thirteenth century, to which
they are generally ascribed). The colours used are
blue, green, yellow, white, and red, and the style re-
sembles that of the Maestricht school. Eitelberger

198 ARBE

describes another plaque on which SS. Peter, John,
Mark, and three others were represented. This seems
to have disappeared since his time, as it was not shown
me with the others.

The campanile of the cathedral is one of the finest
in Dalmatia, and is older than the year 1212, in which
year there is mention of it. It is 20 ft. square and more
than 100 ft. high, with four stories separated by orna-
mented string courses, a base and a pyramidal top.
The base has a door and eight windows, two on each
side, on a higher level. The lowest story has also two
windows on each side, but beneath three corbelled
arches. In the next the windows are each coupled,
with a central colonnette and an arch above springing
from the central and angle pilaster strips. In the third
the windows have three lights and coupled colonnettes
beneath a similar arch, but the story is loftier. In the
top story (which is as deep as two of those below)
there are four lights with coupled colonnettes and a
square framing round them ; a cornice slightly projecting
and a balustrade complete the perpendicular part. All
the arches are round and the window shafts have neither
cap nor base. The leaf ornament of the strings imitates
the antique. The pyramidal top is octagonal, and bears
an inscription recording its restoration after damage
by lightning ; the lower portion seems to be original.

Four of five other churches have campaniles, of
which S. Andrea is the best, apparently twelfth-century
work, as are the three apses at the eastern end. S.
Giustina has a curious bulbous top, plastered and
painted red. The churches generally have a semi-
circular apse and flat wooden ceilings ; those without
campanili have bell-turrets on the west wall, many of
them no longer in use. S. Andrea was rebuilt in the
middle of the fifteenth century, and has a good Venetian
Renaissance doorway. In S. Antonio, just beyond the

S. GIOVANNI BATTISTA 199

cathedral is a fifteenth-century altar-piece with carved
and painted figures. In S. Andrea is a wofully re-
painted Bart. Vivarini, signed and dated 1485, and in
the Franciscan convent of S. Eufemia, some way
outside the walls, there are said to be two pictures by
the same artist.

Of S. Giovanni Battista, which was so interesting
for the construction of its apse and ambulatory, scarcely
anything remains — just the exterior wall of the apse
and north wall of the nave, with remains of one door
with an inscription. The obliging owner or renter of the
ground showed us a piece of the mosaic pavement in
rather bad repair, which he said the Duke of S. Stefano
wished to buy, but it was impossible to get it up from
the grass which had grown round it, apart from the
difficulty of the three permessi required from the bishop,
the authorities, and the proprietor. He had the earth
swept off the piece which we saw, and there was no grass
growing just there. The patterns are interweavings
rather Roman in design, the colours used being black,
red, rose-pink, and white. The church is said to have
been the first cathedral ; later it belonged to a Francis-
can convent which was used as the palace of the bishop
some seventy years ago. Round the cloister were two
stories of rooms, with a curious chapter-house in the
corner. The site is now laid out as a garden, with
pergolas and a terrace-walk looking over the sea ; amid
these are still a good many architectural fragments
lying about, some of which appear to go back to the
tenth century. Four boxes full of such fragments were
sent to the Museum of S. Donato at Zara without any
claim being made for expenses, but were refused.

One ought not to omit mentioning the chapel of
the Campo Santo, which has a strange facade with three
great conventional shell forms above a rose-window, and
a carved architrave with Renaissance motifs above the

200 ARBE

door. It was restored in 1867 ; the adjoining ruinous
building has 1657 over ^s door.

S. Pietro in Valle is some six miles from Arbe,
and is as yet undescribed. Signor Rismondo, whose
kindness I have just referred to, offered to drive us out
to it, an attractive offer which I was exceedingly sorry
to have to decline ; but the times of sailing of the boats
are not elastic, and it would have meant spending four
days more on the island, an amount of time which I
could not spare. He also wanted to take us to below
Loparo, where he said the geological formations are
strange and impressive. The cliffs facing the mainland
are riven into detached pinnacles estimated to be as
high as the campanile of the cathedral, and the scenery
is savage in the extreme.

Our second visit to Arbe was made from Zara, which
we left in rather stormy weather, the waves outside the
harbour flashing with little white caps, while flaws of
rain constantly hid the island of Ugljan on the other
side of the channel. The boat was rather a small one,
belonging to the Zaratina company, with a crew which
consisted of a captain, who also acted as supercargo, an
engineer, a stoker, a cook, one deck-hand, and a cock.
The cock's name was Nero, and he had voyaged with
the boat for two months (as the engineer testified)
without suffering even from the most tempestuous
weather. There was an awning over the central portion
of the boat and flapping pieces of sailcloth, apparently
intended to shield the very varied merchandise which
was being brought on board, and we found that it was
possible to shelter beneath it by observing the direction
of the wind and keeping to leeward. The crew com-
forted some women who feared the roughness of the
waves (one of whom carried a new hat in a large
paper-bag, which became rather dilapidated under the
attentions of the wind and the frequent showers) by

A STORMY PASSAGE 201

saying it would be all right when we got round the
point behind which Nona lies ; and as the boat was very-
buoyant and seaworthy we found it possible to enjoy
the passage notwithstanding the doubtful weather.
As we turned down the bay to Val Cassione, however,
the wind shifted a point and blew dead against us, and
we began to think that the boat was very small for
such a sea. The women and a child had to disembark
here, and were almost in tears, and the length of time
that the boatmen took to make up their minds to come
out from the harbour and face the choppy sea did not
reassure them. Nero marched bravely up and down
the deck, giving vent every now and then to a rather
cracked crow, and we wondered how he escaped being
blown overboard ! Fortunately he carried very little
sail, only two feathers remaining in his dilapidated
tail ; but his spirit was high, and he was always ready
to respond to the challenges of the engineer.

As we rounded the point after leaving Val Cassione
the wind shifted again and the weather improved as
if by magic. The clouds gradually melted away, and
the blue of the sky palpitated through the grey ; the
sun shone warm upon the barren, featureless coast,
adding colour to the dispiriting grey of the limestone
spotted with the dark green of shrubs, a characteristic
of most of the Dalmatian islands, and the Velebit
Mountains became clear, in some places to the
summits, though the greater part of the chain was
still cloud-capped and barred with heavy purple
shadows.

The party at lunch consisted of the captain, the
engineer, and a priest who was now the one passenger
beside ourselves. We comfortably filled the table in
the little cabin. The captain said that since the
phylloxera damaged the vines two-thirds of the Dal-
matians fthe country people) had emigrated. He

202 ARBE

seemed to hold them in slight estimation, perhaps
because he was a sailor, which he said none of them are
in that part of the country (a statement we had an
opportunity of verifying, for we noticed that a very
slight motion of the boat makes them sick), and so
ignorant " that it would require 2,000 years of teaching
to civilise them ! " The captain himself belonged to
one of the outlying islands, where his' wife and family
lived and where he spent two nights in each week ; and
he took a gloomy view of the prospects of the " Dal-
mati," as the Italian-speaking Dalmatians call them-
selves. He said when he was a boy the language used
in the schools generally was Italian, then it was changed
to German for a time, but Croat is now universal, so
that in twenty years Italian will no longer be under-
stood along the eastern littoral ; which will be bad for
the culture of the country, almost the whole of which
is Italian, and has been so for centuries.

Our priest left us at a little convent with a chapel
and two houses standing close to the water's edge ; and
at Novaglia we took on board a party of emigrants,
some of whom were quite boys, while one was grey-
headed. Most of them wore the picturesque costume
of the Morlacchi ; but the next day we saw them again,
clad in the characterless, sack-like slop-suit which seems
to be thought a mark of civilisation, having lost much
of their individuality without gaining anything in
exchange. A number of friends lingered on the shore
to see them off ; but there was no such singing as we
heard next day at Loparo beyond Arbe, the birthplace
of the founder of the Republic of S. Marino, where
some twenty or more were waiting for us on a barge in
the pretty bay, singing a farewell song which wailed
over the water as we approached. As they boarded
the steamboat they kissed their friends on both cheeks,
and crowded to the side as we got under way again,

A PICTURESQUE CITY 203

repeating their melancholy song and waving adieus ;
while all along the tops of the hills which flank both
sides of the harbour figures silhouetted against the sky,
waved in response, and stood watching the boat as
long as we could distinguish them.

When we reached Arbe, cresting its rocky point

ARBE FROM THE SHORE

with a picturesque confusion of walls, campanili, and
house-roofs that seemed to grow out of the rocks, so
well do they harmonise with them, the afternoon was
sunny and delightful, though the roads showed signs
of the rain which had recently fallen. At sunset we

204 ARBE

climbed again to the public garden and enjoyed the
well-remembered view of towers and walls grey against
the glowing sky, the most beautiful grouping of one
of the most picturesque places that I know, intensified
by the charm of the changing colours as the glow
gradually faded, and the opalescent sea by slow degrees
took its place in the quiet harmonies of twilight.

ASCENT TO THE RAMPARTS, ZARA

To face page 205

XVIII

ZARA

The continuation of the Canale della Morlacca, which
washes the mainland, is the Canale della Montagna, on
the west side of which is the island of Pago, the Gissa of
the ancients. The city of the same name was founded
by the Venetians, and was originally a defensive military
post against the Uscocs. The bay upon which it is
situated lies open to the " Bora," and therefore cannot
always be entered in winter. For this reason Val
Cassione, on the west side of the narrow island, is the
usual port. A road over a slight hill conducts to the
south end of the bay and the city, in front of which
the water is so narrow that it is bridged over. On
the near side are the celebrated salt-works, the richest
in Dalmatia. There are a few Roman remains, includ-
ing those of a camp ; and near Novaglia is a tunnel 300
yards long, lighted by pierced apertures, said to have
belonged to a Roman aqueduct. The scenery outside
the island of Pago is uninteresting ; the islands have little
elevation, beauty of form or colour, nor is there
sufficient vegetation to disguise the dull grey of the
rocks, though, as the boat turns to the west to gain the
mouth of the Canal of Zara, the Velebit Mountains be-
hind may become imposing under certain circumstances.
The first time we went to Zara the sun was setting at
this part of the voyage, and the sky effect was fine,
while the Velebits flushed a pinkish purple with blue-

205

206 ZARA

purple shadows, the silhouette only showing in places
beneath heavy masses of cloud, in which some of the
summits were hidden. Falling showers here and there
softened and veiled the strong light and shade, relieved
by the prismatic hues of a rainbow. As the sun sank
lower the mountains and clouds gradually became a
pallid grey, while the sky to westward passed through
many gradations of colour and tone as the clouds
slowly dispersed and night fell. Far away over
the darkening water the electric lights of Zara flashed
and glittered, reflected in chains of sparkles which grew
longer as we approached.

The boat turned to the left into the old port, and
thus we escaped the ordeal of the dogana to which
passengers landing at the new quay are subjected, and
entered the town through the Porta Marina, the entrance
for all travellers arriving by water until, in 1868, the
walls towards the sea were thrown down, and the
Riva Nuova constructed. It is proposed to extend
this fine promenade to Borgo Erizzo eventually. In
making it some remains of Roman walls were found.
The city was declared "open," and the cannon were
transported to the arsenal. On the other side of the
water is the island of Ugljan, with its conspicuous
Venetian castle of S. Michele, to which the peasants
make a pilgrimage on Michaelmas Day. From the
height which it crowns, the second Canal of Zara
may be seen, and the islands of Incoronata, Isole
Grosse, and the open sea beyond. It is said that the
coast of Italy can be seen with a telescope on a fine
day. The remaining portions of the fortifications
have been planted with trees, or turned into gardens,
and form pleasant promenades both during the day,
when the shade of the trees is acceptable, and at
evening, when the sea breeze blows cool from off the
water. Among the trees are found palms and Paul-

THE PORTA MARINA, ZARA

To face page 207

THE GATES OF ZARA 207

ownia in flower. Outside the Porta Terra Ferma a
large bastion has been made into a public park, named
after General Blazekovic, who created it in 1888-1890.
The fortifications, commenced by Sanmichele in 1533,
were finished ten years later by his nephew Giovanni
Girolamo : a drawing for the Porta Terra Ferma exists
in the Uffrzj at Florence, showing the whole depth to
the bottom of the ditch, which much improves the
proportion. It was approached diagonally across a
wooden bridge ; the road is now direct, and the ditch
filled up. The isthmus joining the peninsula to the
land had been cut through to strengthen the older
fortifications, of which one tower, the pentagonal Bo
d'Antona, alone remains. When the new works were
carried out, as a stronger defence against the Turks, the
suburbs were destroyed, and the ditch was subsequently
turned into the cisterns below the Cinque Pozzi.
This great reservoir, made in 1574, was provided with
an elaborate system of filtering-beds, the water being
collected from the roofs until the aqueduct was opened
in 1838. The sand was renewed once in a hundred
years.

The inner portion of the other gate, the Porta
Marina, was, according to local tradition, brought from
iEnona. It is part of a triumphal arch erected by a
Roman lady, Melia Anniana, to her husband, Laepicius
Bassus, with additions of the period of the Renaissance.
It bears a long Latin inscription referring to
the battle of Lepanto, October 5, 1571, and on the
water side has a pretty, early Renaissance upper part,
with the lion of S. Mark and amorini supporting a
shield within an architectural framing.

Zara (anciently Jadera) is traditionally the capital
of the Liburnians. It became a Roman colony in
78 B.C., and many Roman fragments have been found
which attest its splendour and prosperity under the

208 ZARA

Empire. Trajan built an aqueduct, of which traces
have been found through Borgo Erizzo to and beyond
Makarska. Stone pipes of the same kind were found on
the shore at Zara Vecchia, in the ruins of the Templars'
castle on the hill Kastelj above the lake of Vrana, and
in the marshes through which the road from Vrana to
Benkovac passes. It is believed that the source was
a spring at Biba on this hill. Salona, during the time
of its prosperity, was of more importance than Zara ;
but after its destruction by the Avars in 639 the latter
again became of first importance in Dalmatia, the
Byzantine fleet being stationed there when Ravenna
was taken by the Lombards in 752, and the town
becoming the dwelling of the " strategos." In 804
Donatus, bishop of Zara, acted as envoy with the doge
of $i Venice in concluding peace between Charlemagne
and .the Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus. In the tenth
century it was known as Diadora. In 991 it became
Venetian for the first time, but without severing its
relations with Byzantium ; and Orso Orseolo fortified
itvfin 1018. Somewhat later, the Venetians made it
their ^'principal city, putting the bishoprics of Arbe,
Veglia, and Ossero under the metropolitan in 1154,
and making Domenico Morosini, son of the doge,
Count of Zara. The inscription on the nuns'
church of S. Maria records the fact that Coloman
entered Zara in 11 05 ; from that date the Hungarian
period commences, though apparently the Venetians still
had rule over maritime Dalmatia. The sacking of the
city by the French in 1202 appears to have been due
to the greed of the Venetians, and to their desire to get
even with the Hungarians also. Between 11 69 and
1201 a Pisan fleet, probably allied with Hungary,
took Pola from the Venetians ; but it was retaken before
long, and the discords between Henry or Emeric, son of
Bela of Hungary, and his brother Andrew facilitated

VENETIANS AND HUNGARIANS 209

the taking of Zara. It is recorded that Andrew had
most of the magnates on his side ; but Emeric went alone
and unarmed to the malcontents, saying : " Now I wish
to see who of you will dare to raise his hand against his
king " ; and all quietly and in silence let him pass. He
then took his brother, led him out, and imprisoned
him in a certain castle. The magnates fell at his feet
asking pardon. Truly in those days divinity did hedge
the king !

The French Crusaders had engaged the Venetians to
take them to the Holy Land, but did not assemble at
Venice at the time appointed, nor had they the money
ready to pay for their transport. The Venetians, being
men of business, demanded cash down ; and so the
favourable time for reaching Syria was allowed to pass
without the expedition setting forth. Provisions and
ships had been prepared, and the Venetians, wishing to
use them, with the consent of Doge Enrico Dandolo, pro-
posed to the French an attack on Zara, part of the booty
to be used to pay for their passage. The attack took
place on November 10, 1202, and the French stayed till
April 7, 1203. The Venetians took all the booty, and
threw down the wall on the seaward side, but it was
restored shortly after. They also sent colonists to Zara
after a rebellion and a reconquest in 1243.

The Venetian counts were generally citizens of
Venice, and had no defined term of rule. In 1311 the city
again returned to the Hungarians, and the result was
the siege of 1312-1313, which ended in the condottiere
Dalmasio, who was besieging, being offered the count-
ship by the ban of Dalmatia and Croatia. To prevent
this the Venetians offered to leave the Zaratines free
to choose their own count, only reserving the right of
confirmation. In 1345 Zara rebelled for the seventh
time, when Andrea Dandolo was doge, and in conse-
quence a long siege commenced on August 12. The

210 ZARA

Venetians had at Nona 20,000 men, horse and foot, who
devastated the fields for three days and set fire to the
villages ; the countrymen fled to the city, so that there
were more than 20,000 within the walls, of whom 6,000
only were armed. On August 30 they closed the port
with a chain made of thirteen beams, and on September 1
sent an envoy to Andrew, king of Naples, to ask for
aid. On the 8th they received letters from the King of
Hungary promising help, and raised the Hungarian
flag. The king sent the bani of Bosnia and Croatia
to help them, but the Venetian senate bought the
rescuers off ! In January, 1346, the Venetians took the
Castle of S. Damian and broke the chain of the port.
The Venetian trenches consisted of a bastion 200
yards long and 100 yards broad built of wood on
three sides. On the east it had ten towers, as many
on the west, and fourteen on the north, being open
on the south towards the fleet. They now controlled
25,000 men. On June 2, Ladislas of Hungary came
to help the besieged, and encamped at Zemonico,
seven miles away, with 100,000 cavalry. On July 10
he advanced close to the city with 2,000 of his
best men. The citizens welcomed him with much joy,
and the next day sent legates with great solemnity
to offer him the keys of the city. On the 16th he at-
tacked the bastion. On the 20th, Bernardo, patriarch
of Aquileia, entered the city ; but the king held aloof.
The Venetians tried in vain to make terms, and the
Zaratines attacked the bastion with good heart,
burning one of the towers ; but the Hungarians only
looked on while the Venetians repelled the assault.
The king's behaviour is mysterious. On July 30 he
returned to Vrana, and so to Hungary ; and, although
his promised envoys went to Venice, they went for
other purposes. He appears to have been using Zara
as a pawn in some great game. Famine obliged the

THE COUNTRY PEOPLE 211

Zaratines to surrender, and the Venetians entered the
city on December 21, 1347, the war having lasted two
years and six months, and having cost the Republic
from 40,000 to 60,000 ducats a month for soldiers'
pay alone, without counting the shipping. Eleven
years later Zara again became Hungarian, but was
finally ceded to Venice in 1413 by the peace of Trieste.
The dialect spoken in the city is pure Venetian, and
the municipality is the only Italian one in Dalmatia.
Zara is still the capital, and the diet meets in the city.
Here, too, are the only Italian schools in the province,
the Slav majority in most places exercising its power
to veto everything Italian. The only flourishing
industry is the manufacture of maraschino, of which
300,000 bottles are exported annually. The cherries,
which are the raw material, are imported from Sebenico,
Almissa, and Poljica, near Spalato. The streets are
narrow and impossible for carriage traffic ; merchandise
is put upon long narrow carts, with long poles pro-
jecting in front and cross-pieces at the end ; the cart is
then pushed and pulled by several men. The population
is 13,000, and is increased by many country people in
the mornings, who come to market, so that the streets
and piazzas are crowded with a most distracting variety
of costumes. Both men and girls from the country
wear little red caps. The men have great light-coloured
woollen coats which they throw over their shoulders
without putting their arms in, light shirts, sometimes
with an embroidered jacket, trousers with embroidery
round the pocket-holes (which are in front of the thigh)
and a split at the lower part of the side which is buttoned
up. They sometimes have a sash round the waist with
a knife. The women wear leggings woven roughly in
patterns like the wrong side of a tapestry curtain, and
shoes somewhat the shape of gondolas, thick skirts
with patterned aprons, and small waistcoat-like jackets.

212

ZARA

Their hair is plaited round the head. The dress of the
townspeople is less individual ; the head is covered with
a white or coloured kerchief, the dress is frequently-
black, and the modern blouse is sometimes seen. It

is interesting to watch the
boatloads of country-folk
arriving either by the Porta
Terra Ferma, close to which
are steps and a small har-
bour, or on the quay by the
Porta Marina. Lambs and
kids are brought alive and
killed and skinned on the
quay, the women holding
pots or jugs to catch the
blood, which they seem to
think valuable. The wall
of the quay was being re-
built when we were there
the second time, and a
diver was working at it.
It looked odd to see the
stones and buckets of ce-
ment lowered into the water
with ropes.

There are two antique
columns still erect: one,
fluted, is in the Piazza S.
Simeone, set up in 1729, and
the other is in the Piazza
deir Erbe ; it was used as a
pillory, and the" chains with the iron collars still hang
to it, having, by centuries of friction, cut deep-curved
grooves in the marble with swinging to and fro. This
column also has sockets for the insertion of flagstaff s, and
attached to it is a much-worn piece of eighth-century

MORLACCA GIRL, ZARA

ANTIQUE REMAINS 213

sculpture, with the motif of an ornamented cross be-
neath an arch fastened with clamps. The chroniclers
of the seventeenth century record that near this place
several drums of columns projected from the earth,
and that two entire pillars were erect and united
by a piece of the architrave. One was moved to S.
Simeone, near to which Mr. T. G. Jackson saw in 1884
the base of a Roman arch excavated beneath the level

GOING TO MARKET, ZARA

of the piazza. Other similar fragments have been
used in the foundations of S. Donato.

In the year 380 a bishop of Zara (Felix) is men-
tioned for the first time. S. Donatus is reckoned the
fourth bishop, Andrew and Sabinianus (who are shown
on a reliquary with Felix) traditionally preceding him.
As his episcopate lasted into the ninth century it is
evident that the list is not complete. His diplomatic
mission took him either to Diedenhofen or Aachen and
then to Constantinople, where he had the relics of

214 ZARA

S. Anastasia given him. It is probable that the sight of
the great churches which he saw during his journeys
suggested the plan of S. Donato, which was originally
dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Porphyrogenitus com-
pares it to S. Sophia, Constantinople, which seems
strange in a Byzantine. It is circular in plan, about
60 ft. in diameter. Six gigantic piers, wider than the
arches which rest upon them, placed ten feet from the

PLANS OF S. DONATO, ZARA

wall, sustain a barrel vault, about 28 ft. high, over
the ambulatory, which has strengthening arches. The
piers of the upper story sustained the drum of a cupola
which no longer exists. Opposite the entrance are three
vaulted apses, the central one larger and deeper than the
others and with four windows, the others having but one
each ; and these apses are repeated above, without the
windows. In front of them are two smooth columns
of Oriental yellow marble 7 ft. round, in place of

S. DONATO 215

piers, and thinner columns cut short occupy the same
relative place above. The caps are antique and a good
deal damaged. Three are composite like the arch of
Septimius Severus, and one is Corinthian. The roof is
now tiled. A Roman inscription on the fourth pilaster
seems to indicate that there was a great temple to
Augusta Livia, wife of Augustus, here ; and when the
floor level was lowered in 1888 a number of inscriptions
were found, and portions of carved friezes and pillars
used as foundation material and simply laid on the
pavement of the Roman forum. Among these were
portions of columns resembling both of the two still
upright. Part of a flight of steps was also found,
which may have been part of the sub-structure of the
temple. Fragments of four different buildings have
been recognised. Two stairs have served the upper
story of the church — an early one with carved hood
mould of the ninth century to the external door, now
blocked up, and a second from the interior, which
lands in a vestibule where some early mediaeval
carvings are arranged. The upper portion is a double
flight, arranged, perhaps, to use when this stair was a
" Scala Santa " ascended by the faithful on their knees,
whereby they gained the same indulgences as were at-
tached to the Scala Santa at Rome. The building was
a military magazine in 1649, again from 1798 to 1877,
and then a wine-store till, in 1888, the museum was
founded. In 1890-1891 the ancient entrance-door was
found behind the eighteenth-century additions. It is a
simple square-headed door with semicircular opening
above, made of Roman uncarved material, with conse-
cration-crosses sunk in the lintel and base of the right-
hand jamb; to the right and left of the lintel a little
above it are two simple brackets with crosses on them.
The lintel itself is double, and treated as if it were wood.
The cill was two feet below the ground level.

2i6 ZARA

The museum contains Roman and pre-Roman
antiquities, inscriptions, lamps, carved fragments,
coins, bronze and glass vessels, pottery, &c. ; mediaeval
fragments, carved and gilded panels, lanterns and
ensigns from Venetian galleys, a crozier of Limoges
work of the thirteenth century found under the pave-
ment of S. Crisogono, arms and carvings of the Re-
naissance period, &c. But perhaps the most interesting
things are the plans of the early churches which have
either been destroyed or very much altered, and the early
mediaeval carvings ; among these are two very curious
slabs with figures under arches, one of which was found
under the pavement of S. Crisogono, while the other,
closely resembling it in style, came .from S. Domenico.
The former shows the Flight into Egypt and the
Massacre of the Innocents ; the latter the Nativity and
Adoration of the Kings. They probably formed part
of a chancel enclosure. There are also fragments of
ciboria, altar frontals, or sarcophagi, while a column
sawn in two has furnished decorated jambs to the
door of the upper church. On a lintel of the early
church of S. Lorenzo is a Christ in a mandorla, sup-
ported by angels with a sacred tree on each side and a
griffin beyond ; a rough astragal moulding surrounds the
subject. The jambs have a rough arabesque scroll,
terminating in a two-headed bird. These carvings are
all of the ninth century.

The church of S. Lorenzo is in the courtyard of the
military command building on the Piazza dei Signori.
The sides are in courts entered from the Calle Larga and
Via del Teatro Vecchio. It has a nave and aisles about
21 ft. long and about 14 ft. broad, with four pillars,
springing from which are three unmoulded arches.
The arches are stilted, and at the height of the real
springing an impost projects in profile. The central
compartment has a wagon vault, the other two quadri-

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S. LORENZO, ZARA— TOP STORY

Between pages 216 and 217

EARLY CHURCHES 217

partite vaults. The aisles have semi-domes running
north and south, resting on cross arches, with squinches
in the corners. The choir has two stories, the lower
with three square-ended apses, and entered by a door
flanked by pillars. The walls which separate the apses
run up to a tower. The vault is a transverse wagon
pierced by wagon vaults at right angles. The architec-
ture is very simple, and shows Byzantine influence, but
the construction is hidden by plastering. The nave caps
are debased Corinthian, with ornamented volutes and
one row of flat acanthus-leaves, the abacus being square.
The front leaf in each shows a half-length of a male figure
with nimbus, his arms raised as if in prayer, the body
hidden by a shorter leaf. The columns are of different
sizes, but the caps are all the same. The entrance door
towards the Calle Larga has a simply moulded round
arch ; the other has been mentioned as being in S.
Donato. The upper story of the choir has pillars with
carved caps supporting an arch of two orders, now
built up, formerly no doubt an oratory. The church
is mentioned in a document of 919.

S. Domenico (which no longer exists) was of some-
what the same character ; but the choir was without
dividing walls, and thus became an upper church. It
was only 21 ft. square and had three columns on each
side, the last close to the wall. The vaults were domically
quadripartite, springing from pilasters which rested on
the caps. The arcade was round-arched, the central
and right-hand apses were square-ended, and the left
had a semicircular niche. The under church was
wagon-vaulted without architectural features. The
foundation of a chapel was found on the Riva Nuova
with five niches of a six-niched circle and an entrance
passage in the sixth, which turned at right angles to
the north to reach the street. In the angle thus formed
between the entrance and the main building a sar-

PLAN OF FOUNDATIONS DISCOVERED ON THE R1VA NUOVA, ZARA

S. PIETRO VECCHIO 219

cophagus stood. This circular-niched plan occurs else-
where in Dalmatia, as in the baptistery here, and SS.
Trinita at Spalato, and the dimensions are generally
so nearly the same as to suggest some common original
design. S. Pietro Vecchio is considered to be the
oldest church in Zara. It is now desecrated, but was
used as a sacristy to the fourteenth-century church of
S. Andrea, belonging to the Fishers' Confraternity,
the sixteenth-century apse of which projected into the
nave as far as the first pillar. It was cleared out by
order of the Central Commission in 1886. It is about
38 ft. long by 19 ft. broad, and is built of ancient
fragments with very little architectural character.
One of the two columns bears a Roman inscription,
and both have crosses cut in them. One of the caps
is a damaged antique ; the other is an antique base
upside down ; neither column has any base. The church
is an irregular rectangle in plan, divided into two
naves which end in apses by two pillars and a
pier. The pilasters are not upright, the arches are
deformed, and the two altar niches have half-cupola
vaults on a rectangular plan, with arches thrown across
the corners. There are two original doors, both built
up. The pier between the two apses has a round-
arched niche in it. The church is mentioned in 918 in
the will of Prior Andrea.

There was a cathedral here in very early times,
referred to in a will of 908 as S. Anastasia. It was
originally S. Pietro, and the dedication was changed
when the relics of S. Anastasia which S. Donato brought
from Constantinople and placed in the church of the
Holy Trinity were transferred to the cathedral. This
church was destroyed by the Venetians in 1202, but
probably portions of it were worked up in the new
building which the Crusaders are said to have erected
as a votive church after the pope had excommunicated

220 ZARA

them all for the sack of Zara. This seems, however,
a legend, since the new building was not consecrated till
May 27, 1285, the Archbishop Lorenzo Periandro offi-
ciating, assisted by the Metropolitan of Spalato and
the suffragan bishops of both dioceses. On the vault of
the ciborium and on the jamb of the main door are
inscriptions, dated respectively 1332 and 1324, record-
ing their erection by " Joannis de Bvtvane, archiep :
Jadren." Certain portions show by their style that
additions and alterations were made still later. The
length is 170 ft. and the width 65 ft.

The facade has three doors, and is divided by pilaster
strips which emphasise the width of the nave ; at either
side of the central door is a shallow recess filling the space
between it and the pilaster strips. The door itself has
spiral and simple colonnettes in the jambs, with corre-
sponding arch moulds of four orders. In the tym-
panum is a later relief of the Virgin and Child enthroned,
with two saints, beneath a pointed trefoil arcade ; and on
brackets at the sides are four figures of Apostles. On
the side doors the tympana have the Agnus Dei, and
that to the left has the Annunciation on brackets, one
figure on each side of the door. The colonnettes and
arch moulds are both twisted in this door ; in that to the
right they are plain ; the figures on brackets are similar.
The lintels and jambs have elaborate arabesque scrolls,
which remind one of Provencal Romanesque ornament.
The lower part of the wall has courses of pinkish marble
among the white, and bands of inlaid ornament
decorate both the wall and the campanile. Above the
string course over the doorways is a Romanesque-
looking arcade with another which fills the slope of the
aisle walls, with animals standing at the ends. The
central portion has a restored wheel-window with
radiating colonnettes and round arches, and above it in
the gable is another with cusped tracery of a later date ;

m^wm - '^{rH

NORTH DOOR OF WESTERN FACADE, CATHEDRAL, ZARA

To face page 220

THE CATHEDRAL 221

round this an arcading ramps as at the end of the aisles,
and the lower rose is flanked by arcading in two stages
arched only in the upper one. Both of these arcadings
have coupled colonnettes, and are manifestly much later
than the lower part of the facade. The walls of the
north aisle have an arcading separated into groups by
pilasters, echoing the internal divisions, with a gallery
above, like S. Nicola, Bari, and others of the Apulian
churches. A cornice of corbelled arches crowns the
nave wall. The campanile was commenced in 1449
by Archbishop Lorenzo Venier, and carried up by
Archbishop Matteo Valaresso in 1460 to the height
from which Mr. T. G. Jackson completed it. It has
five stories and an octagonal pyramidal termination.
The three upper stories have two window openings in
each, the lowest being single lights, while the upper two
have a central colonnette and two stilted round arches
beneath a containing arch. A string with corbelled
arches below divides the stories, and the square portion
terminates with a balustrade in the usual manner.

The inside was altered in the eighteenth century and
the beginning of the nineteenth. The nave arcade,
which continues to the apse, consists of ten round
arches on each side resting alternately on columns and
piers with columns attached which have cushion caps.
Some of the columns are spirally fluted and have de-
cadent antique caps. Some are cipollino, and two are
apparently cut from antique columns, one having four
shafts attached to the central cylindrical mass, and
the corresponding one on the other side being panelled,
with octagonal colonnettes attached. The pier at the
choir steps has two small columns instead of one. Two
bays of the aisles equal one bay of the nave, and pilasters
run up from the piers, dividing the triforium arches
into groups of six, on the tops of which figures stand.
The triforium arcade has round arches with coupled

222 ZARA

colonnettes of red marble on the face and varied caps ;
the voussoirs are alternately red and grey ; and a string
with carved leaf pattern, much like that at Trau, runs
along the triforium, between the nave arcade and the
balustrade. The nave arcade terminates at each end
with a single arch. The apse has a marble seat running
round it, with the bishop's seat in the centre raised on
several steps. It has exactly the same ornament on
its sides as is on the font in the baptistery. The wall
is sheeted with red marble. The ciborium has pointed
arches resting upon Corinthianising caps and columns
of cipollino carved in coffered patterns or spiral and
zigzag channelling ; a cornice of acanthus-leaves runs
above the arches. It was erected by Archbishop
Butuane, consecrated in 1332, and restored in
1901-1902. The presbytery pavement is of 1336. The
stalls, once painted and gilt, are very fine examples of
Venetian-Gothic wood carving, and were partly made
for Archbishop Biagio Molin in 1420-1427, whose arms
are carved on them ; but those of his predecessor and
successor, and those of Valaresso, under whom the
work was probably completed, also appear. Between
the stalls, elaborately pierced and carved scroll-work
runs up to the canopy level, where little figures stand
in niches. Above the canopies, which are slightly
pointed fluted shells, and separated from them by
curious ogee-shaped gables, are thirty-six half-length
figures of prophets, emergent from scrolls and holding
labels. Above one of the side altars are six small
Carpaccios on panel much repainted — the one with the
figure of S. Martin bears his signature ; also a Palma
Giovine and an Andrea Schiavone.

Beneath the step of the high-altar is the sarcophagus
of Oriental marble, with porphyry cover, of the three
saints, Agape, Chionia, and Irene, whose remains are
interred in the crypt. The crypt is entered by two

PLAN OF THE
CATHEDRAL, ZARA

224

ZARA

flights of stairs from the sides of the choir. It is of an
irregular shape, about 70 ft. long, 23 ft. broad, and 15 ft.
high. Eastwards it suddenly broadens out to a width
of 33 ft. and terminates in a semicircle. In this apse
there are three windows. Two rows of nine columns ex-
tend to just above the point where the change in width
begins, and four more follow the external curve of
the wall. These support quadripartite vaulting. The
columns have heavy square caps and square bases. In

6W.K1.

PLAN OF CATHEDRAL CRYPT, ZARA

one is a grated aperture as if for relics. The sarcophagus
altar has a much worn representation of the Martyrdom
of Sant* Anastasia, with her name inscribed in Lom-
bardic letters between two foliage scrolls. Fragments of
early work are visible here and there, pointing to the
reconstruction of the crypt. It is very dark, and is
now used as a store, having become too damp for ritual
purposes.

The treasury contains some exceedingly interesting
objects, and is rich in reliquaries. It is kept in the wall

RELIQUARIES IN THE CATHEDRAL 225

between the body of the cathedral and the baptistery
in a rather evil-smelling vault, which opens into the
latter building. The most ancient reliquary, once
belonging to the cathedral at Grado, is that of Sant'
Orontius ; it contains a portion of his head, and is
work of the eleventh century, material of an earlier
date having been used in its construction. Upon the
sides and front is an arcade with alternate twisted and
fluted columns, beneath which are figures of saints
robed in the Greek manner, and holding Benedictional
crosses. The names of the saints, inscribed in mixed
Latin and Greek letters, are Sabinianus, Felix, Vitalis,

ALTAR OF SANT ANASTASIA, ZARA

Satorus, Repositus, Septimus, Januarius, Arotatius,
Onoratus, and Fortunatianus. On the back is a plate
inscribed in Roman letters: "£%i Sergivs F. Mai Nepos
zallae fecit hanc capsam sco capiti Arontii Martins." *
On the top are the escutcheon of Archbishop Pesaro
(1505-1530) and two quatrefoils. The casket has been
mended with strips of stamped silver of various periods.
Two reliquaries of the twelfth century described by Eitel-
berger and Mr.T.G. Jackson were not shown to us, though

* Mgr. Bianchi has found the names of Madius and Zella in
documents of 1067 and 1096, and that of " Sergius tribunus " in
one of 1 09 1.

226

ZARA

we were assured that we had seen everything of interest.
One contains the head of S. Giacomo Interciso, a martyr
of the fifth century. It has a domed top, and round
the ring is an inscription: ">%i Ego Bosna ivssi fieri anch
capsam ad onorem scs iacobi martiris ob remedivm
anime chasei viri mei et anime mee." On the lid in
round medallions are six figures — Christ with the mono-
grams IC and XC, " Jachbus, martyr/' Judas, Simon,
Johannes, and Maria. Round the drum is an arcade
supported on twisted, fluted, or diapered columns, under
which are the figures of nine Apostles, named SS. Petrus,

RELIQUARY OF SANT' ORONTIUS, ZARA

Paulus, Andreas, Jacobus, Tomas, Jacobus again,
Filippus, Bartolomeus, and Mateus. The ground is
plain silver ; the figures are gilded. On the summit
is a classic head with flying hair, a relief which did
not form part of the original work. The letters are
like those of the monument to Vekenega, who died in
II II ; and Bianchi says there was a prior named
Chaseus or Chaseo in 1096. An arm reliquary bears
the inscription in raised Lombardic letters : " Ego
Chacia usor Dimitrii feci fieri hoc opus." It is of
plain metal enriched with filigree, and set with

OTHER RELIQUARIES 227

stones and patterned cloisonne enamels, and stands
upon a triangular cast base with three feet ; on
each side is a winged figure with sceptre and orb amid
twelfth-century scroll-work. Bianchi says Demetrius,
husband of Chacia, was prior in n 62. An interesting
reliquary inscribed " Hie est spongia dni quo potat fuit
in patibulo crucis " is supported by four dragons without
wings, but with raised tails. It is a tube of crystal,
surmounted by a crucifix, below which is a band of
natural leaves with birds. Between this and the foot
is a cube of crystal surrounded by cast and pierced
metal — a figure of a man in civilian dress blowing a
horn, alternately with a knight tilting and carrying a
falcon through a wood, typified by a tree behind him.
The treasury contains many interesting things of a
later date, of which the reliquary of S. Crisogono is
perhaps the most attractive, showing earlier enamels
in a good fourteenth-century setting. On the front
are two square enamels of SS. Zoilus and Anastasia, with
little chapels at their sides supported on slender twisted
columns. Upon the lid are three similar vesica-shaped
medallions — S. Crisogono in the middle, S. John the
Baptist on the left, and S. John the Evangelist on the
right. Cypress-trees are on each side of the figures,
enamelled dark green. S. Crisogono is robed as a king,
crowned, and holding a cross before his breast ; angels at
each side of his head hold tapers. The material is silver.
The figures are delicately drawn, and the ground is filled
in with deep blue enamel, red and green also appearing.
The borders show good vine-leaf scrolls. The ends have
a rough sexfoil rose, which is repeated on the back
between modern scrolls imitating the old. The in-
scription is round the lid in Lombardic letters of silver
on a ground of red enamel: " Hoc op. fvit fact tvr
nobiliv viror viti cadvl vvlcin martinvsii et Pavli de
Galcign ann D. MCCCXXVI." An ugly head reliquary

228 ZARA

of S. Mary Magdalene, dated 1332, is inscribed with the
same name, Volcine de Martinusio, who was one of the
three rectors or judges of Zara. It has flowing hair
down to the shoulders. Several arm reliquaries of late
fourteenth century are up to the usual standard. One
is of S. Crisogono ; one of S. Donato, with many jewels
and a pierced band of quatrefoils with some of a larger
number representing the opening of the sleeve ; one
with plaques of translucent enamel and vine scrolls
said to contain a finger of S. John the Baptist, &c. An
hexagonal pyx on a stem has on the knop and foot a
half-length of our Lord erect in the tomb. A foot of
S. Crisogono in a shoe-shaped reliquary with jewelled
bands has a pretty flowing scroll pattern of the early
Renaissance in low relief. A casket reliquary of
S. Daniel (which, according to Bianchi, also encloses
relics of SS. Peter and Paul and Martin) is rather
coarser work of the Renaissance (1496) upon the same
lines as the early reliquaries. It has figures of a Risen
Christ and SS. Anatasia, Donato, and Daniel. On the
sides and top are double-headed eagles with aM" on
the breast. Bishop Valaresso's pastoral staff is also
preserved here — a fine work of 1460, 6 ft. 6 in. high.
It is hexagonal, divided into eight sections by bands, of
which every other one is broader and more decorated.
These bear a pierced pattern and projecting triangles,
serving as spandrils to the trefoiled arches, which are
incised on the spaces between. The knop is an
elaborately niched and pinnacled architectural feature
of two stories with figures in the niches and beneath
the canopies. It terminates in a foliated form (a later
addition), from which the crook springs. Round the
outside of this are half-lengths of prophets emerging
from foliage, facing in two directions, with a statuette
of Christ on the summit. Within are two figures, a
crowned woman holding a book, and a mitred male

THE BAPTISTERY AND SACRISTY 229

figure, probably intended for the Virgin and Valaresso
himself.

The baptistery is an hexagonal building with niches
in each side within, vaulted without ribs in wagon
divisions, and with four windows above the niches.
Altars stand in two niches, a confessional-box in another,
and through the remaining three there are doors. In
the centre is the octagonal font raised on three circular
steps. It is 6 ft. 6 in. broad and 3 ft. 3 in. high, and has
an enclosure in the centre. It is panelled on the sides,
sometimes with two panels, each of which has round-
headed sinkings like windows, sometimes with one
panel containing three such sinkings, separated by
coupled colonnettes ; the cornice and base are moulded.
The material is red Veronese marble like that used at
Grado. A white marble basin, quatrefoil in shape,
upon a fourteenth-century cap, holds the baptismal
water, very green and slimy, and there is water at the
bottom of the font itself.

The sacristy, a Gothic building with two bays of
cross vaults, was the ancient church of S. Barbara, in
which the Zaratines swore fealty to the Hungarian
crown on the arm of S. Crisogono on July 8, 1384. In
1794 a mosaic pavement was found beneath the exist-
ing pavement. Between it and the apse is a little
wagon-vaulted room, perhaps the ancient sacristy.

S. Crisogono belongs to the most ancient Benedictine
convent in Dalmatia. The church was originally S.
Antonio Abate ; but when the body of S. Crisogono was
brought from Aquileia it was deposited here, and the
dedication was changed. In 906 the church and mon-
astery were recorded under the name of S. Crisogono, and
as being ruined by barbarian invasion. In 986 Majo,
rector of Zara and proconsul of Dalmatia, rebuilt both,
and made Madius, a monk from Monte Cassino, abbot.
The standard of the city then bore S. Crisogono on

230 ZARA

horseback, added to the earlier white cross on a red
ground. Destroyed by the Venetians, the church was
rebuilt in 1032, and in 1056 the buried relics were
re-discovered. The final rebuilding was in the twelfth
century, and it was consecrated on May 4, 1175, by the
first archbishop, Lampridius, though additions were
made at a later date. The central portion of the west
front, though Romanesque in style, is nothing like as
fine as the eastern apses, and may be work of the
end of the fourteenth century, since a consecration is
recorded in 1407, though Bianchi states that the
inscription in his time gave the date 1298. It has
a central door with three unmoulded orders and a
sunk tympanum beneath a gable. Above this is a
heavy string course from which two pilaster strips
spring, a window flanked by four arches on slender
coupled columns, with semicircular niches, filling the
space between them ; above, a space from which it is
cut by a second string forms the next stage ; over it
is another string and two small windows beneath a
gable cornice of corbelled arches, the same cornice
raking over the aisles. Beasts project at the gable
angles, and the summit it crowned by a finial. All the
arches are round, and the little arcade has red and grey
voussoirs. To the left is a large squat campanile which
was built in 1546-1562, and was then higher. A fire
damaged it in 1645. The north aisle wall has an arcade
of twelve arches with twisted columns, and the east end
has three apses, the central one larger and with a fine
open arcade beneath the cornice ; above its roof in the
gable is a cross which had scodelle in the arms and
centre. The interior has an arcade of seven arches,
arranged three, two, and two, between piers, with a flat
pilaster running up to what was once the wall plate.
The columns are antique, as are some of the caps. The
horizontal moulding above the nave arcade is the same

APSE OF S. CRISOGONO, ZARA

To face page 230

S. CRISOGONO AND S. MARIA NUOVA 231

as that above the apse arcade, and is ornamented with
beasts' heads, &c. A twelfth-century mosaic in the
apse was destroyed in 1791. The pavement of the
presbytery is of coloured marbles, and on the aisle
wall hangs a great painted crucifix which was once in
S. Domenico, and recalls the work of the early Tuscans.
The church was the burial-place of many distinguished
Zaratines, and the body of Elizabeth of Hungary, who
was killed in the castle of Novigrad by Giovanni
Palisna, prior of Vrana, in 1386, was buried here for
some years. When the church was restored, nineteen
historic gravestones were set in the outer wall. At the
same time a relief of S. Crisogono, remains of an early
ciborium or chancel, and traces of a crypt were found,
also the Limoges pastoral staff now in the museum.
The cloister has been pulled down, and a school erected
on the site.

S. Maria is first mentioned in 906. It was given in
1066 by the Benedictine monks of S. Crisogono to nuns
of their order. It is called in the deed i( Ecclesiola
S. Marise minoris ante portam Bellatam." The street
opposite the lesser door led to the ancient city gate,
Porta Bellata or Belluata, by which animals were
brought into the city. The convent was rebuilt and
enlarged by Cicca the abbess, who took the veil
after the murder of her husband, and who was sister
to Cresimir the younger, king of Dalmatia ; and it was
consecrated on October 28, 1072, by Andrea, bishop of
Zara, five other bishops and four abbots being present,
when Andrea and the President Drago gave the island of
Selve to it. The fine tower was built in 1105 by order
of Coloman, to commemorate his entry into Zara as king
of Dalmatia, as an inscription states. Of this period
is the chapter-house containing the tomb of Vekenega,
the repudiated wife of the monarch, and daughter of
Cicca, who died in 1111. A window in the north aisle of

232 ZARA

the church communicates with it, but is only opened
when a nun professes, or when one dies. The nuns'
choir is above the main door on the level of the side
galleries, shut off by a gilded grating inscribed : " Placida
abbatissa fieri fecit anno MCCCVI." Within are the
stalls made or altered by Giovanni da Curzola in 1495.
The facade of the church, which faces on to a small court-
yard, is of the period of the Lombardi. At the side of
the high-altar towards the sacristy Bishop Andrea was
buried, and here are also the remains of Coloman,
brought in 11 17 from Zara Vecchia, where he died.
Cicca died in 1096. Just within the door to the right
is a Christ crowned with thorns, and the Virgin lament-
ing— a good picture of the school of Titian, if not by the
master. There is also a SS. Peter and Paul by Palma
Vecchio.

The treasury is above an altar at the end of the
north aisle. The sacristan, who told us that he had
filled that position for fifty years, lighted candles before
opening the doors, kissed each reliquary before return-
ing it to its place, and insisted upon the authenticity
of each relic. The objects are scarcely so interesting
as those at the cathedral, but include several fine
fourteenth-century reliquaries as well as one or two
which were made, or remade, in Renaissance times.
The reliquary of S. Gregory has on the front Christ
enthroned between standing figures of SS. Mark and
John beneath a round-arched arcade on twisted
columns. Three more saints are at the back, and at
the ends are the subjects of the Annunciation and the
Visitation. Upon the sloping parts of the lid are me-
dallions of angels writing between scroll-work, and at
the top is a figure of S. Gregory. It was a votive
offering of Catherine, wife of Sandalius, Voivode of
Bosnia, who died between 1433 and 1436. A reliquary
of an unknown saint (which Bianchi speaks of as

THE TREASURY AT S. MARIA NUOVA 233

S. Zoilus) has on the front a fine equestrian figure of a
knight with lance in rest, said to be S. Crisogono,
between two figures of ecclesiastics (SS. Zoilus and
Donato), all three in high relief. Upon the pyramidal
cover are medallions of the symbols of the Evangelists
in lower relief, with bands of running ornament along
all the angles. At the back are figures of Christ and
two saints, and at each end three saints. The reli-
quary of S. Quirinus, another work of much the same
period, has saints under a pointed trefoiled arcade on
twisted and horizontally ringed columns, with foliage
in the spandrils. In the centre at the back is a figure
of our Lord; on the lid are an angel, Gethsemane,
S. Peter sleeping, and the winged lion, between scrolls.
A panel of S. Gregory, with low mitre, and inscription
in Lombardic letters, holding a dragon-headed crozier,
and with his bird at the other side, has a stamped
border of thirteenth-century character ; and a fine relief
of the Madonna and Child, with decorated nimbi upon
a ground which has once been blue enamel, has a
gabled top with a border of relics in roundels with
jewels in the interstices. It must once have been
used as a door, as the hinges, still attached to the wood,
testify.

The reliquary of the clothes of Our Lord is of good
early Renaissance design, but some of the figures appear
to be of an earlier date. In the centre is an oblong
panel with the Madonna " del Parto " in the centre, and
S. John the Baptist and S. Paul in high relief. Outside,
on brackets, are the Angel Gabriel and the Virgin ; at
the back are S. Anthony and another saint. Above is
a medallion containing three relics from the manger at
Bethlehem, from the house at Nazareth, and from the
clothes of Our Lord, crowned by a crucifix and flanked
by figures of the Virgin and S. John on brackets. On
the foot are four medallions in niello amid arabesques.

234

ZARA

There are also six arm
reliquaries of the usual
pattern, two of which
have little doors of niello,
two or three heads, and
an ostensory, at the top
of which is a thorn from
the crown of thorns.

The church of S.
Simeone was a "Colleg-
giata," instituted in
1150 by Archbishop
Lampridius, and dedi-
cated to S. Stephen. It
was subsequently called
the Madonna della Pace,
because the Madonna so
called was deposited in
it in 1567 from the
suburban church of S.
Matteo. The body of
S. Simeon was brought
here in 1632, having been
in Zara since 1280, when
it was brought from
Jerusalem by Bishop
Periandro. The cele-
brated " area " was in
the collegiate church of
S. Maria to the north,
destroyed in the middle
of the sixteenth century
to make room for the
fortifications, a small
chapel only being left standing, in which the wooden
area was kept, the silver one being consigned to the

RELIQUARY OF THE CLOTHES OF OUR LORD,
S. MARIA NUOVA, ZARA

CHURCH OF S. SIMEONE 235

care of the nuns. In 1632 a new chancel was added
to the church now S. Simeone ; the area was repaired
and placed in its present position. The campanile was
built in 1707. In the nave on one side are antique
fluted columns with Corinthian caps, which belonged to
S. Stefano. The area is of cypress wood, covered with
silver plates, which are fastened with silver screws. It
cost 28,000 ducats, and was supported on four angels of
silver. These were melted down at the time of the war
between Venice and Cyprus, and have been replaced by
two of stone and two of bronze made from cannon taken
from the Turks and given to Zara by Venice in 1647.
On the lid a figure of the saint nearly life-size lies, and
on the sides and ends are subjects referring to the his-
tory of the relics, and an inscription giving the date of
1380, and the names of the Queen of Hungary as the
donor, and the goldsmith Franciscus of Milan as the
artist. On the roof is a panel showing the artist at work
on it. There is a reproduction in the Victoria and Albert
Museum. In the treasury is a chalice also given by
Queen Elizabeth the younger, late Gothic in style, with
Renaissance additions, made of silver, parcel gilt, with
niello and a little enamel ; it has an octagonal knop with
coats of arms reversed on quatrefoil ends and on the
sexfoil foot. Upon the base of the cup are subjects in
outline, the Crucifixion and figures of saints in petal-like
forms. The treasury also contains some curious rococo
painted vestments, apparently in water-colour on silk.
To the right of the choir, in a chapel just outside the
sacristy, is a reredos of repousse silver — two big angels
kneeling below, and God the Father above a Madonna
and Child with painted faces, the rest of the figures being
in relief. The frame is flanked by S. Michael and a saint,
with a little angel flying below and holding a book, also
with the heads only painted. These figures and the
Virgin and Child have a good deal of gilding about

236 ZARA

them, and may be of the fifteenth century, since they
look earlier than the rest, which is late sixteenth or early
seventeenth. In the chapel to the left is a Byzantine-
looking relief gilded all over except the hands and faces,
which are painted pink, mounted on a polished slab
of black marble. The subject is the Virgin and Child
standing, the Child draped. A half-finished building
not far off is all that was completed of a magnificent
church designed to house the area of S. Simeon. It
was commenced in 1572, but abandoned in 1600.

Beyond the cathedral, and not far from the walls,
is the church and convent of S. Francesco, consecrated
in 1282 by Archbishop Lorenzo Periandro, according to
an inscription on a pilaster in the choir. The choir
contains a very fine set of stalls, made in 1394 by
" Maestro Giovanni quondam Giacomo da Borgo San
Sepolcro in Venezia," at a cost of 456 ducats of
gold. They used to be in front of the altar, but
were moved in 1808 when the new altar was put
up. In the Cappella del Crocifisso is a large
Carpaccio, an allegory of the militant and triumphant
Church, with a row of portrait figures. It is in rather
a bad state, painted in tempera on panel. In the sky
is a pretty Madonna and Child in a vesica surrounded
by angels. The rest of the sky has rows of angels in it,
and below, on the earth, kneeling bishops, potentates, and
others, with some nice little children in front. Between
the two divisions is a landscape with a shrine in the
centre, and the whole composition is contained in an
upright oval, the corners being filled up with later
painting. The usual white dog appears with a red
collar-ribbon. The frame is well carved, but not archi-
tectural. In a side chapel is a S. Francis by Palma
Giovane. The chapel of S. Carlo, once called degli
Innocenti, can be entered either from the cloister or the
church. In it is an enormous painted crucifix of wood

PAINTINGS IN S. FRANCESCO 237

in relief, with the Virgin and S. John half-length painted
at the ends of the cross, and an angel above. It bears
inscriptions in Greek and Latin, " ictavpwcic " and
" Rex Ivdeorvm," and, below the arms of Christ,
" In me credentes ad me concvrrite gentes." It is
believed to be of the tenth century, or even earlier.
In the sacristy is a picture of 1430 on a gold ground
in the original frame, restored at the emperor's
expense. In the centre is the Madonna with the
Child and little angels ; on one side are SS. Jerome,
Simeon, and James ; on the other, SS. Peter Martyr,
Nicholas, and Francis. A predella shows the twelve
Apostles, with Christ in the centre. Above, in the
centre, is Christ half-length, flanked by smaller nearly
full-lengths of the Virgin and S. John; at each side three
half-lengths of saints — left, SS. Martin, Stephen, and
John the Baptist ; right, a warrior, a bishop, and a man
with green robe, and hat turned up in four pieces. The
frame is fine, a blue ground and gilded arabesques.
The church possesses four chalices of silver-gilt of the
fourteenth or early fifteenth century. Two of them
have elaborate knops with crocketed niches with figures,
and one has the symbols of the Evangelists in high
relief on the foot, with leaf-scrolls and big stars, the plan
being octofoil. The finest has a sexfoil foot, and there
are angular projections in both between the foils, and a
pierced perpendicular band below. Upon the foot are
six roundels, with Christ and saints in low relief, as if for
basse-taille enamel. The third has a knop with window
tracery, pinnacles, and flying buttresses ; on the foot,
of a later date, are graceful leaf-arabesques, rather
like the work of Aldegrever. The fourth is smaller and
less elaborate. There are also some fifteenth-century
psalters and antiphonaries. One of the three bells in
the modern campanile is the oldest in Zara, dated 1328,
and signed ' ' Magister Beloa Viccentius. ' ' The tradition

238 ZARA

runs that S. Francis, going to or returning from the
Holy Land in 12 12, visited Dalmatia, and founded this
monastery among others.

The church of S. Domenico (anciently S. Michele)
has a pointed Venetian door, with a relief in the tym-
panum of S. Michael weighing souls, with the Devil
pulling the scale down, an armed angel at one side, and
a woman with a lighted taper at the other. On the
lintel are a Virgin and Child, and several saints in little
panels also spreading beyond on to the wall.

The Greek church, S. Elia, which the Servian ortho-
dox Christians have had since the French invasion,
is nearly opposite the cathedral. One year we were at
Zara at the time when they were preparing to keep
Easter. In front of the iconostasis was an " Entomb-
ment/ ' surrounded with young grass amid which little
lamps shone. The whole was covered with a canopy
similar to that carried over the Host. It was delicate
and pretty, and a great contrast to " Tombe," which
we had seen in years gone by in Italy, and a few days
before at Capodistria.

There were thirty churches in Zara, fifteen of which
have been destroyed or given to different bodies. Seven
are now Catholic, and four preserve their outward shape,
but are secularised.

The Loggia, the open hall of justice, ascribed to
Sanmichele in its original form, was restored shortly
before the end of the Venetian rule. It is now the
Paravia library. It has three arches between coupled
Doric columns, and is still quite well preserved. The
Palace of the Priors, the former rulers of the town, was
enlarged by the addition of private houses for the
residences of the Venetian Count and the provveditore ;
while the commune had to be content with the corn-
magazine, near S. Simeone, which is still the com-
munal palace. When the Austrian governor followed

)im

AN EXCURSION TO NONA 239

the Venetian provveditore the palace was restored and
modernised. It is a Venetian building of 1562, with a
clock-tower which was restored in 1798 ; the clock
itself was put up in 1807.

Nona is some hour-and-a-half s drive from Zara, for
the greater part of the way over stony uplands with
very little vegetation, but with extensive views over
land and sea when the weather is fine. We were trou-
bled by showers and a bitter wind, against which our
overcoats were an insufficient protection ; and we looked
with some wonder at the herd boys and girls and other
peasants whom we met, many of them barefoot and
with no additional clothing to what they had found
sufficient in the market the day before when the sun
shone strongly. The town is now a mere village of
some 500 inhabitants, and, though a few antique frag-
ments may be seen, and the ruins of several churches of
different periods, it is difficult to realise that it was once
one of the most important towns in Dalmatia. It
appears to have been a Roman port, and the head of
one of the roads to Byzantium across Dalmatia — ran
ancient Liburnian city, the great prosperity of which, at
the end of the first century a.d., is attested by the coins
found here. It was called ^Enona and ^Enonium by
Pliny and Ptolemy, Nona by Porphyrogenitus. De-
stroyed by the Slavs in the seventh century, re-occupied
and restored by another branch, the dukes and kings of
Croatia made it one of the thirteen Dalmatian " zu-
panje." Later it belonged at intervals to the King of
Hungary and to Venice, and after 1409 remained in the
power of the latter. In 1357 Count Giustiniani valiantly
but vainly defended it against the Hungarians, when the
garrison was reduced to such straits by famine that they
had to eat their horses. It was twice burnt to prevent
it from falling into Turkish hands and being utilised as
an outpost, in 1571 and 1646. The harbour has silted

240 ZARA

up, and only a small piece of the walls is traceable. Of
the Venetian dominion the only remains are the en-
trance gateway, with the lion of S. Mark above it, and
the " Stabilimento," founded in 1786 by Girolamo Man-
frin for the cultivation of tobacco, but ruined by a fire,
and no longer used for that purpose.

The Christian Church in Nona is said to have been
founded by S. Anselm in 117 a.d. Under the Croats it
had a bishop and a chapter. The ancient church of S.
Croce was the cathedral, a small cruciform church with
three apses in the eastward wall, and a dome over the
crossing. It is 30 ft. long, and each arm of the cross is
10 ft. wide. The dome has a flat-pointed vault and win-
dows, while the nave and transepts have wagon vaults
terminating in half-cupolas. To the west is a lintelled
door, with consecration crosses on the jambs and carving
of the ninth century on the lintel. A Slavonic inscription
upon it (inside) has been read " Godeslav Juppano
Ch[risto] Domo Co[nservat]." The breaking of the
upper angles of the carved portion, and the difference in
the character of the crosses on lintel and jambs indicate
the use of early material in a later rebuilding ; but the
church is considered one of the oldest in Dalmatia.
From 1697 it served as an oratory to the Count
of Nona, being near his palace. Its bell (hung in the
gable above the west door) served to call the people
together for public meetings, &c. The eastern apse has
a blank arcading on its exterior, which is square, and
the same kind of ornament occurs on the drum which
conceals the dome. There are three windows in the
west wall, and others in the transept walls and gable.
The church was restored some seven or eight years ago,
as well as the somewhat similar church of S. Nicolo
outside the town.

The parish church of S. Anselmo was the mediaeval
cathedral, rebuilt during the eighteenth century. Close

RELIQUARIES AT NONA 241

to it is another church, once dedicated to S. Ambrogio,
and now to the Madonna. In the treasury are various
interesting pieces of goldsmith's work kept in a marble
chest with glazed front and gilded metal door. When
we were there the priest was enjoying his siesta, and,
though we were in charge of an official from the town-
hall, we were unsuccessful in rousing him from his slum-
bers. I therefore take the description of them from
Bianchi, as I was not able to examine them critically.
There are two caskets of silver-gilt with the heads of
S. Anselm and his sister, S. Marcella, made by the same
goldsmith. On the front are Christ, the Virgin, and
S. John in relief, with a frieze of a hunting subject, the
figures beneath trefoiled arches on twisted columns;
on the back, SS. Anselm, Ambrose, and Marcella ; on the
ends, SS. Peter and Paul, and a king and queen. Bianchi
says these are thirteenth century; Mr. T. G. Jackson
says fifteenth, which is more likely. On the lids are the
symbols of the Evangelists. Two other reliquaries con-
tain the shoulder-blades of S. Anselm. On the front
are figures of the three protectors full-length. An arm
reliquary has pagan subjects in relief, and is set with
precious stones. An inscription gives the name of
Simeon the goldsmith, and the Bano Paolo (Lord of
Bosnia also at the end of the thirteenth and beginning
of the fourteenth centuries). Two reliquaries of the feet
of S. Anselm, given by Radoslav Utusano, chancellor of
the Bano Paolo, and zupan of the church of Nona, are
dated 1309. There are two other reliquaries : one of
SS. Giacomo and Orontius, with three medallions of
saints ; and the other with the Evangelists' symbols.
Mr. T. G. Jackson also saw two crosses and a sixteenth-
century chalice. I particularly regretted being unable
to see the wooden area of S. Marcella, which is a very
remarkable example of early Christian art. Bianchi
says that it is varnished, and has eleven compartments,

242

ZARA

with figures in high relief. One is entitled S. Barbara —
the first on the left. Then come a king with a double
cross, S. Luke's ox, S. Marcella, S. Matthew's angel, the
Virgin and Child, S. Mark's lion, S. Ambrose, S. John's
eagle, and a queen with a lily in her hand. The eleventh
compartment is not recognisable.

North of the parish church are remains of a Roman

10A

PLAN OF S. NICOL6, NONA

temple, and an antique cap or two may be seen. In a
private house are remains of a bath and a mosaic pave-
ment. The ruined church of S. Michele stands on the
site of the Roman arena. Antique fragments are also
recognisable in the walls of S. Nicolo. There are several
ruined churches which appear to be of the thirteenth or

S. NICOLO, NONA 243

fourteenth centuries. Some of them have been altered
at a later period, but they contain nothing of first-rate
interest. Nona had sixteen in the Middle Ages. We
walked out to S. Nicolo, an early church, which crowns
a hillock thickly sown with asphodels in blossom, some
little distance from the road and a mile or so from Nona.
It is cruciform in plan, with apsidal terminations to three
arms, the west being square, and having a door with a
semicircular tympanum above it internally. Squinches
in the angles serve as transition to the semi-dome which
covers each arm. From the pilasters between the apses
cross arches spring beneath a domical vault with a pen-
dant at their intersection ; in the left pilaster by the apse
is a recess. The central tower is octagonal and turreted ;
beneath the apse eaves are rough corbels, the door has a
semicircular tympanum externally, little brackets sup-
porting nothing, and the jambs and lintel are put to-
gether rather as if the material were wood. The church
is probably of the eleventh century.

Borgo Erizzo, an Albanian village, lies but a short
distance from Zara. In the eighteenth century the
atrocities of Mehmed Begovich, pasha of Albania, per-
petrated on the Catholics, being very great, some of
them emigrated, seeking the protection of Vincenzo
Zmajevich, bishop of Antivari, who was living at his
native city of Perasto. A little later (1726) he became
archbishop of Zara, and brought twenty-seven families
of Albanians with him, recommending them to the pro-
tection of Count Erizzo, commandant of the fortress,
who assigned them land near the city, where they flour-
ished and increased. There are now about 3,000 of
them. The church, which appears to be in a dangerous
condition, was built for them by Zmajevich. The
girls work in the factories till they marry, after which
they remain at home. The men are agriculturists,
and some own fields and vineyards seven or eight

244 ZARA

miles away, to which they walk or go in carts. The
village is dirty and not very picturesque. They get
their drinking-water from the Kaiser Brunnen, a spring
covered with a dome close to the sea, said to be a Roman
erection. Sailors also water there. Before the aque-
duct was restored, in years of drought Zara had to im-
port water, and in 1828, 1834, and 1835 it was brought
from the Kerka by Scardona.

Zara Vecchia, formerly Alba or Belgrad, is some
eighteen miles down the coast. Here Coloman of
Hungary, nephew of S. Ladislas, was crowned in 1102.
The " porto d'oro " is all that remains of a palace built
by Bishop Valaresso, with its foundations in the sea.
Mention of the place is infrequent. Towards the middle
of the eleventh century Crescimeno Pietro, third king of
Croatia, assigned a prebend to the Benedictines of Zara
Vecchia. In 1092 Busita, daughter of Roger I., Count
of Sicily and Durazzo, and wife of Coloman, king of
Hungary, came here accompanied by Geoffrey Mala-
terra. In 1114 Ordelaffo Faliero took it, and in 1115 it
was destroyed to the foundations by Domenico Michieli.
Some of the inhabitants, with the bishop and clergy,
fled to Scardona ; the rest, with the notables, to Sebenico.
The nuns escaped to Zara, and the Benedictines crossed
to Tkon in the island of Pasman, where they still are.

XIX

SEBENICO

Sebenico lies within a fine harbour at the mouth of
the Kerka, some six hours from Zara. The entrance to
the bay is defended by the strong fort S. Nicolo, which
bears the lion of S. Mark upon the landward side,
showing that Venice ruled when it was built in 1540
(according to tradition, from Sanmichele's designs),
though the actual sculpture is a replacement of 1824
of the original thrown into the sea by the French in
1 8 13. During the Italian struggle for freedom and
unity many patriots were shut up in the damp dungeons
of this fort by the Austrians. Within the strait, the
Canale di S. Antonio, there is shelter for a large fleet ;
and it is reported that the Austrian Government in-
tends to make it into a naval arsenal (of which the
commencement may be seen in some very ugly buildings
to the left of the town). Sebenico is commanded by
three castles, from the highest of which, that of S. Gio-
vanni, constructed in 1646, a splendid view over town,
bay, and islands rewards the labour of the climb. The
next is Fort Barone, so named after Baron Degenfeldt,
the gallant defender of the city against 20,000 Turks in
1647. It is now abandoned and in ruins. The third
is Fort S. Anna, which crowns the hill just above the
houses. This is thought to occupy the site of a king's
castle mentioned in 1066. Fort S. Giovanni and the
walls, of which a great portion of the circuit still re-

245

246 SEBENICO

mains, were restored in 1837. These walls are for the
most part the work of kings of Hungary, though the
Venetians added to them. The sea suburb the Borgo
di Mare is probably the oldest portion of the place ; that
on the land side, the Borgo di Terra, grew up with the
need for the shelter of the fortress during the Turkish
wars.

In 1 1 17 the town was taken and destroyed by
Ordelaffo Faliero ; but in 1127, when Zara Vecchia was
razed to the ground by Domenico Michieli, and the
bishop and clergy were removed to Scardona, the bulk
of the population took refuge at Sebenico. It was a
pirate city, and there was continual strife between it and
Trau. Until n 67 it was only a small place, but in
that year Stephen III. of Hungary gave it the title of
" city." Lago, however, says that it was only a " cas-
tello " till 1298, when the bishopric was established by
Boniface VIII. in consequence of the representations
of the archbishops of Zara and Spalato, and of Queen
Maria of Hungary. The first bishop was Martin of
Arbe. When he was consecrated, the ceremony took
place in the piazza, because the church was not large
enough. In 1412 the chapter was allowed to choose its
own bishop ; and the town and church authorities be-
came responsible for law and order throughout certain
denned territories. The city seals bear either an angel
with nimbus standing on a dragon, and holding in his
right hand an upright sword, and in his left an orb, or
a half-length of a similar angel, holding an orb in his
left hand and a sloping sceptre in his right, with the
sun on one side, and a crescent moon on the other ;
above a city with a central gate and two side towers,
with windows on each side.

Sebenico owes its chief celebrity perhaps to its
cathedral, the chef d'ceuvre of Giorgio Orsini, known as
George of Sebenico, an architect of exceptional genius,

THE CATHEDRAL 247

whose work may also be seen at Spalato, Ragusa, pro-
bably at Ossero, and at Ancona on the other side of the
Adriatic. His father was known as Matteo of Zara, and
was also a stonemason, as George proudly announced
himself to be when he carved upon the door of his
house a mallet and chisels hung with garlands which
are supported in the centre of the lintel by the bear,
the cognizance of the noble house which acknowledged
his grandson as a relation.

When it was determined to rebuild the cathedral
on a larger scale in 1402, the bishop and council
of forty-five nobles made provision in various ways
for the work. The territory of Vodizze was assigned
for the purpose, the bishop gave half of the tithes,
fines inflicted were to go to the fund, notaries
were charged to remind testators to leave something
to the fabric, &c. If the community of Sebenico went
back from their promises they were to be fined 1,000
golden ducats. When the towers protecting the mouth
of the port were rebuilt in 1409 the Venetians seized the
stone prepared for the cathedral, but subsequently paid
80 ducats of gold as compensation. The city became
Venetian in 1412. In 1430, after some wavering, it
was decided to add the bishop's palace and the street
between it and the church to the cathedral site. The
building was commenced in 1431, under Antonio, son
of Pietro Paolo Massegna, in the Gothic style as under-
stood by the Venetians ; but in 1441 he was superseded
by Giorgio Orsini with a six years' engagement, on the
strength of a design whch he had made showing how
he proposed to complete the building. The west door
with its scroll-work of exaggerated curvature, its pin-
nacled canopies supported on twisted columns, and
figures of various degrees of excellence, shows Antonio's
capacity and his limitations. The side door, which is
rather simpler and in better proportion, is in much the

248 SEBENICO

same style, but has foolish-looking lions on brackets
beneath the columns outside the door, with figures of
Adam and Eve interposed between the columns and
the canopied tabernacles above, which bear great re-
semblance to those in a similar position at Trau. The
pointed and cusped cornice of interlacing arches, sur-
mounted by a cable moulding, which continues to the
end of the transept wall, seems to show that the build-
ing had advanced as far as this point when Giorgio
appeared upon the scene in 1441. The arms of the
Venetian rectors also afford indications of the progress
and intermissions of the work.

In the tracery of the windows of the central apse a
modification of a graceful Gothic pattern has been
employed, resembling patterns used in the campanile
at Trau, combined with classic pilasters and colonnette
forms, but the greater part of the rest of the building is
early Renaissance. The aisles are roofed with a half-
wagon vault above the quadripartite pointed vaulting,
forming a kind of triforium, which is, however, in-
accessible ; the chapels at the sides of the choir have the
semicircular form of the roof of the nave and choir,
perhaps suggested by the temple at Spalato, now known
as the baptistery ; and the east end is tri-apsidal, the
apses being polygonal, but roofed with a semi-dome.
All these forms are evident externally, the joints of the
roofing slabs being covered by an ornamented band
answering to the internal supporting rib. The external
sculpture is in the main restrained and delicate, and the
general proportions are excellent. The angle pier at
the north-east of the north transept has the simplicity
of its outline destroyed to provide place for figure
sculpture and the dedicatory inscription, and the string
dividing the stylobate from the principal stage beais a
curious decoration of heads in the round ; but these are
slight blemishes amid much beauty The heads have

EASTERN END OF CATHEDRAL, SEBENICO

To face page 248

GIORGIO ORSINI, THE ARCHITECT 249

a good deal of character, and some may be portraits of
the architect's assistants. The same motif occurs
round the square-headed door of S. Francesco alle
Scale, Ancona. The construction of the semi-domes
and of the roofs shows that Giorgio was a competent
constructor ; but the inventive and beautiful treatment
of the decoration of the choir shows him as something
more. The graceful singing-galleries at each side,
terminating in the curved ambos attached to the main
piers of the dome, are very delicate and beautiful ; the
lofty proportions of the nave and choir are impressive ;
and the little baptistery, with its curious mingling of
Gothic and Renaissance forms, is quaint and ingenious,
if not very pure in style.

In 1444 Giorgio went to Spalato to build the chapel
of S. Ranier in the church of S. Benedetto, which was
to have been finished in two years, but it was nearly
four before the donor was satisfied. The price was
306 ducats of gold. It no longer exists. After his
first contract expired at Sebenico, where the work ap-
parently progressed very slowly, he went again to
Spalato in 1448 to make the chapel of S. Anastasius in
the cathedral. Here he had to compete with the work
of Gaspare Bonino of Milan, who had made the corre-
sponding chapel on the other side in 1427. They are
both rather late Gothic in style. In 1449 he returned
to Sebenico, his contract with the chapter having been
renewed in 1446 for ten years at an advance of five
ducats. The first contract was for six years, at a
salary of 115 ducats. In a notice of 1450 from Zara,
he is thus referred to : " Mistro Zorzi, taglia pietra,
pro to alia fabbrica della chiesa di S. Giacomo di Seben-
ico." The contract for the sacristy is dated March 1,
1452. It cost 600 ducats. He was at Ancona in 1451,
when he undertook the facade of the Loggia de' Mer-
canti, an ornate work, which took eight years to build,

250 SEBENICO

and has several details resembling those parts of the
cathedral, Sebenico, which are ascribed to Massegna.
In 1556 it was burnt, and was restored by Tipaldi.
Barnabei, a contemporary writer, states that Giorgio
also built the adjoining Palazzo Benincasa. He must
have gone backwards and forwards between Italy and
Dalmatia, for in 1455, while he was under contract with
the Sebenico authorities, he completed the fine facade
of S. Francesco alle Scale, Ancona, receiving a bonus of
70 ducats above the price, according to Lando Feretti.
The church was built in 1323. The monastery is now
half barracks and half hospital. Between 1455 and
1459, the facade of S. Agostino in the same town was
built as an addition to a church of 1338, which also
is now a barrack. The foliage, twisted columns, and
canopies are a good deal like the earlier work at
Sebenico. In 1460, Giorgio returned to Sebenico, but
in 1464 and 1465 was at Ragusa, where he helped in
building the Torre Menze, and in restoring the palace
of the Rectors. The next year he was at Pago, im-
proving and enlarging the courtyard of the bishop's
palace. It was the Bishop of Ossero, who thought he
was going to obtain the removal of the see to Pago, but
failed to do so. The facade of the cathedral at Ossero
has been ascribed to him, and there is nothing in
its design to make his authorship impossible. In the
next year he undertook work on the facade of the
Cappella Grande of the parish church at Pago. In 1470
he went to Rome, where his compatriot Giovanni
Dalmato, the sculptor, of Trau, was at work on the
monument of Paul II. He went as representative of
the procurators to Paul II., in reference to certain
charities left by Bishop Vignacco, who died at Porto,
near Rome. In 1472 it is stated that he had let all the
houses which he had in the Venetian dominions. In
this year he commenced the facade of S. Maria, Citta-

PROGRESS OF THE CATHEDRAL 251

nova, in the Marche. During his frequent absences
from home, his Venetian wife Elizabeth looked after his
affairs, apparently having a power of attorney. He had
many pupils, some of whom continued to work on the
cathedral at Sebenico after his death in 1476.

The cost of the building is stated to have been
80,000 Venetian ducats of gold. It was thoroughly re-
stored between 1843 and i860 ; seven out of the fourteen
caps of the nave arcade have been replaced, and a good
deal of the framing of the panelling of red marble above.
At each side of the west door are monuments to bishops,
and also at each side of the choir steps. The slabs
are sloping, and bear figures in relief. That on the
right of the door is Bishop Sisgoreo's, made under
Giorgio' s direction, with an inscription added in
1874 by a descendant. The tomb of Lucio Stafileo
(fi.557), under whom the cathedral was re-consecrated,
is to the north. Those at the entrance to the choir
are Luca Spignaroli (11589) to the left, and Domenico
Calegari (fi.722) to the right. The choir is raised six
steps above the level of the nave, and the sanctuary
seven steps higher still.

At the time of Giorgio' s death the work had pro-
gressed as far as the roofing in of the apses, if one may
trust the arms of Bishop de Tollentis (elected in 1468),
placed above the upper arch of the transept ; while
upon the external arch to the north are those of Count
Captain Piero Canal, who left in 1470 ; and on the
arch of the central apse inside, behind the sculptured
bust representing God the Father, are those of Count
Captain Girolamo Pesaro, who began to rule in 1476.
At that time, therefore, the nave and cupola remained
to be completed. Upon the cupola there are no arms.
Those of Count Nicolo Mulla on the clerestory north
wall show that it was finished to the cornice in 1491-1493.
Those of Nicolo Navager, who died 1489, fastened with

252 SEBENICO

iron clamps in the same place, suggest that it was not
completed at his death, though it was probably in
course of construction. The arms of Count Andrea
Gritti, captain in 1534-1537, on the summit of the facade,
show that the western end of the vault was completed
by Giovanni Masticevich in 1536. The western rose
(at which Giacomo, son of Matteo da Mestre, capo
mastro, 1528-1535, was working in 1531) has Gothic
cusped arches to the radiating bars, but the mouldings
round are Renaissance, as are the angle pilasters to the
nave wall and the paterae decorating the quarter-circles
of the aisles. The fluted pilasters of the dome are in
harmony with the pilasters of the open gallery above
the nave arcade. The pointed arches, which were
certainly finished in 1444, are probably Massegna's
work, though the leafy cornice above bears great
resemblance to carving for which Giorgio was respon-
sible at Ancona.

The baptistery is a queer little building at the
eastern end of the south aisle, and one of the entrances
to the cathedral is through it. The font has a bowl
and base of variegated marble, like that used at Veglia,
very flat in shape and unmoulded, supported by three
amorini, carved in Istrian stone, who stand round the
supporting stem. The plan of the building is cruci-
form, the arms of the cross being semicircular niches
which have shell-heads. The wall above them has
Gothic tracery, on the eastern side pierced to give light.
The ribs at the angles are supported on engaged columns,
above which are Gothic figures beneath canopies,
of which two, David and Simeon, remain ; the other
two were destroyed or stolen, I understand, by thieves
who broke into the building. The figures bend forward
awkwardly beneath the curve of the vault, which be-
comes domical, with angels and cherubs upon it. The
boss in the centre bears a head of God the Father and

LATE VENETIAN-GOTHIC DOORWAY, SEBENICO

To face page 253

GIORGIO'S PART IN THE CATHEDRAL 253

the Holy Dove, with an inscription round the edge :
" Hie est films meus," &c.

The question of the part played by Giorgio in the
construction of the cathedral is difficult to decide,
being complicated by the mixture of styles and the
possibly later insertion of several of the coats of
arms of the rectors and bishops. The western piers
of the crossing are considered to be part of the
earlier work, because of the close resemblance of the
carved foliage to Venetian-Gothic ornament ; but it
must be remembered that Giorgio was trained in Venice,
just as Massegna was, and would be familiar with such
work. Foliage of similar style occurs in domestic work
at Trau, and in other places along the coast, so that it is
scarcely safe to consider it the sign-manual of any one
sculptor. The time from 1441, when he signed a con-
tract for six years, to 1443 was spent in widening
the street to allow of the eastward extension of the
church. On June 16, 1442, the demand for the rebuild-
ing of the facade of the count's palace (which was on
the other side) was formally made for the bishop, pro-
curators, and chapter. This additional space was ne-
cessitated by the design of the apse, &c, as laid down
in Giorgio' s plan, and still existing.* The Gothic char-
acter of the domestic doorway illustrated, with the
late form of shield in the tympanum, shows that such
forms lingered late in Dalmatia. The same may be
said of the design of the rose-window, finished in 1531,
and of similar details which occur in undoubted work
by Giorgio in Ancona.

The door of the lions in the north aisle is quite
Gothic in character, yet the arms above it are those of

* Mgr. Fosco states that Giorgio submitted a plan of his proposed
work, with cupola, apses, and transepts, with the little choirs — possibly
a model, such as we know he prepared at the time the contract for the
sacristy was signed.

254 SEBENICO

Leonardo Vernier (1453-1454)^ Bishop George Sisgoreo
(fi.453), and of Bishop Vignacco (elected 1454), ap-
parently fixing its date thirteen years after Massegna
had received his conge. If it be contended that these
arms are a later insertion, which the arrangement of
the masonry makes possible, the value of all the coats
of arms as fixing the dates of the portions of the building
on which they occur must be discounted. The design
of the lowest portions of the shafts in the right-hand
jamb is different and apparently later than the rest of
the work, and the foliage on the brackets beneath the
lions also is very different from the fine caps to the
west of the crossing, so that one scarcely likes to
assume that they are by the same hand. Upon the
pier, above one of the capitals attributed to Giorgio,
which has been compared disparagingly with the caps
last named, is the date 1524. This is below the level
of the door of the sacristy, which we know Giorgio built,
and one would assume that the pier must be anterior
to the door, as the construction of the sacristy would
scarcely precede the roofing in of the aisle from which
it is entered. Moreover, the baptistery is beneath the
apse which terminates this aisle, and it was certainly
completed in 1452, since it is mentioned in the contract
for the sacristy. The mixture of Gothic and Renaissance
forms is characteristic of Giorgio' s work throughout ;
and it is difficult to agree wholly either with Mgr. Fosco
or Mr. T. G. Jackson in the different conclusions on
this subject which they draw from the same data.
The fact of Massegna having been dismissed on the
definite ground of errors made and defects discovered,
with the additional complaint of the throwing away of
money upon ornament, suggests that the earlier portion
was not left as we now see it by the first architect, of
whom Mr. Jackson says : " To us there seems no fault
in the design of Antonio." The design of the western

SOUTH-EAST PORTION OF CHOIR, CATHEDRAL, SEBENICO

To face page 254

PRIORITY OF GIORGIO'S CONCEPTION 255

pair of caps of the piers at the crossing is as different
from that of the nave caps, which are certainly Masseg-
na's, as from that of the two eastern piers. Mr. Jackson
says, probably quite rightly, that the torus moulding
decorated with the laurel above the leaf cornice of the
nave marks the commencement of Giorgio' s work in
that part ; the same moulding occurs in the same
relative position in the ambos to which he assigns
the date of 1547 ; and one does not quite understand
why the same detail should not have the same origin
in both places. The only contract of 1547, quoted by
Mgr. Fosco, is one with " Checcus " of Padua for 350
squared paving-stones and for laying them.

Whatever part George of Sebenico had in the con-
struction he must be classed with the great architec-
tural designers. Leo Battista Alberti commenced the
recasing of S. Francesco, Rimini, which is generally
quoted as the earliest Renaissance work in Italy, in
1446, and the stone for the work was imported from
Istria. In that year Giorgio's first contract was re-
newed for ten years. The Lombardi were then only
commencing their work. S. Zaccaria at Venice was
built by Martino in 1456, and the Scuola di S. Marco
in 1485. Pietro was engaged on the Madonna dei
Miracoli in 1483. So that Giorgio' s work antedates
theirs by some years. He had numerous pupils, whose
names have been recorded ; the other workmen came
from Durazzo, Curzola, and Spalato. The best known
of them, Andrea Alexis, the Albanian of Durazzo, was
much employed in Spalato, Arbe, and Trau.

The votive church of S. Salvatore, just inside the
Porta Pile, Ragusa, built in 1522 after the earthquake
of 1520, and designed by Bartolommeo da Mestre,
master mason at Sebenico in 1528, bears considerable
resemblance to the cathedral.

The door of Giorgio's house is beyond that of the

256 SEBENICO

sacristan, in a narrow street, the Contrada S. Gre-
gorio. To reach it, one leaves the piazza by a slope be-
yond the Loggia, the ancient palace of the council of
the Nobles, a building of 1522, now a social club. The
slope affords a view of the enclosure in which the " vere "
of the communal wells still remain, four circular well-
heads, with the symbols of the Evangelists and coats
of arms in roundels upon them, surrounded by cable
mouldings, four on each. Sebenico now has a fine
water-supply brought from the Kerka, twelve miles
away, and they are no longer in use. The aqueduct —
— the first constructed in Dalmatia in modern times — is
named the Lott-Brunnen, in commemoration of the
clever engineer who designed it.

Near the cathedral is the little church of S. Barbara ;
the bell-turret on the wall is used as its campanile. In
the north wall is an ogee-headed window, deeply
splayed and with pretty tracery ; below it a little
shrine to the Virgin is set most oddly, with an arch pro-
jecting up into the window space. A little higher up
the street is the fine Venetian door illustrated a few
pages back, with columns and pinnacles, and returning
wall with elaborately shaped battlements. At the
church of S. Giovanni Battista is a fine external stair
of fourteenth-century Venetian type, a double flight
returning on itself, with a landing at the change of
direction. The balustrade is continued round the side
of the church and the tower, but with square un-
moulded shafts in place of the colonnettes. The tre-
foiled heads are cut in the rail with the carved spandrils
between. There are many pieces of sculpture of the
Venetian period, windows, balconies, &c, in the walls
here and there, and wheel-windows occur with quatre-
foils filling the heads of the spaces next the circum-
ference.

There are also a few pictures to be seen. In the

BELFRY OF GREEK CHURCH, SEBENICO

To face page 257

THE GREEK CHURCH

257

cathedral is an Andrea Schiavone (who died here in
1582), "The Adoration of the Three Kings." In S.
Domenico alia Marina there are said to be fine Renais-
sance altars, and pictures by Lorenzo Lotto, Palma
Giovane, and Marco Vecellio. We did not see them,
as, on the occasion of both our
visits to Sebenico, the church was
being restored or rebuilt. The in-
terior of S. Francesco isharmonious.
It was in the archives of this con-
vent that Mgr. Bulic discovered a
gradual written on parchment of
the ninth or tenth century, which
had been brought from S. Maria di
Bribir in 1527.

The Greek church has a very in-
teresting belfry of late Renaissance
style in the gable ; two arches with
projecting semicircular pierced
balustrades for the ringers, and the
bells (which are clappered) hanging
in the free space beneath the arch
above. A third bell is in a higher
arch without the balustrading.
The Greek Christians celebrate the
Church festivals with processions
about the town, treated with great
respect by their Roman Catholic
fellow-citizens, of which one held on
the Assumption may be described
as typical. Boys and girls with
garlands led the way, followed by women with coloured
aprons and voluminous draperies. Then came a band
in gay uniforms and plumed head-gear, then priests in
vestments of cloth of gold, swinging silver censers, or
bearing holy pictures ; they were big men of fine ap-

COSTUME OF SEBENICO

258 SEBENICO

pearance, with religious earnestness in their faces. In
the middle, under a silken canopy with gold fringes, a
higher ecclesiastic walked, a venerable figure, with long
silver hair and beard, bearing the most holy object
and looking like a high-priest, surrounded as he was
with clouds of incense. After the priests came a long
line of men in country costume, powerful figures with
flashing eyes, and faces full of character. They held
themselves upright like soldiers, and bore large white
tapers fastened four together. The sides of the narrow
streets were lined with Roman Catholics who looked on
with sympathetic interest at the religious ceremonies of
their fellow-citizens of a different creed, an example
which might be commended to sects nearer home.

The people are hospitable, and very generous, but
proud, and, like the Spaniards, easily moved both to
acts of violence and kindness. There is no nobility, the
patrician families being either extinct or impoverished,
partly owing to a severe epidemic of smallpox which
smote the town in 1872. The men wear a ridiculous
small red cap, like that worn at Zara, but smaller,
often requiring an elastic round the back of the head
to keep it on, and waistcoats and coats ornamented with
large silver buttons of filigree work (older examples of
which are works of art, but the modern mere articles of
commerce). The collar is curious, with a facing of red
or black worsted, apparently intended to imitate fur
(shown in the drawing of the costume). The trousers are
dark blue, with a slit towards the ankle, laced up with
silver wire, and strong shoes are worn with turned-up
toes covered with hide lacings. The women have a white
head-dress, a cloth twisted round and fastened to the
hair in the manner of that worn at Lussin Piccolo.
One of the waiters at the restaurant who came from
Spalato, but whose side-whiskers stamped him as an
Austrian, told us he had been in Glasgow and other

SCARDONA 259

British towns — a rather unusual thing with the men
of his class, though many of the sailors are acquainted
with British ports. The dustmen reminded one of the
days of one's childhood when in England ; they went
round ringing a bell and calling " Dust-ooh ! " At the
sound all kinds of refuse were brought out to the cart,
which went slowly along the narrow street.

Sebenico was the birthplace of the celebrated Nicold
Tommaseo, to whom a statue has been erected in the
public garden below the piazza, where Sanmichele's
gate stands. He was born in 1802, and was philologist,
philosopher, historian, poet, novelist, critic, psycholo-
gist, statist, politician, and orator, leaving behind
him, when he died in 1874, some two hundred works.
In its time of prosperity the city owned several islands,
of which Zlarin is the most populous and the richest.

Sebenico is the usual starting-point for the ex-
cursion to the Kerka falls ; and, on the arrival of the
boat, tourists make arrangements to share carriages.
It is a driveof about twelve miles, through a barren, stony
land, till one reaches the park-like country along the
banks of the river. The falls can also easily be reached
from Scardona, to which a little steamboat runs in the
morning ; but there is none back in the afternoon, so
those who are pressed for time generally drive. Scar-
dona is an ancient city mentioned by Pliny as a principal
market-town of Liburnia. The ruins which remain are
late Roman. In the Middle Ages, Venice, Hungary, and
Turkey all coveted it, and it suffered accordingly.
In 1411 it became Venetian, in 1522 was sacked by
the Turks, and retaken by the Venetians in 1537. The
fortifications were destroyed, and the town abandoned
and afterwards burnt ; but the Turks held it till 1684,
when they finally evacuated it. The falls are about
three-quarters of an hour's walk away up the river,
which was the ancient boundary between Liburnia and

26c SEBENICO

Dalmatia. They form its final plunge to sea level, for two
tributaries join it, one on each side of Scardona, where
it virtually becomes an estuary. The water precipi-
tates itself over five terraces some 300 ft. wide, a magni-
fied artificial cascade with a fall of 150 ft. The main
fall occupies the centre of the stream, and is slightly
horseshoe in shape ; to the right and left are numerous
smaller cascades with a little island between. Many
partly artificial channels conduct the water to flour and
fulling mills on both sides of the stream, of which there
are some fifty, the sound of the mill-wheels and the
fulling-hammers mingling with the rush of the waters.
On the Sebenico side are a mill for insect-powder made
from the pyrethrum, and the pumping-house for the
water-supply of the city, the power for the electric
lighting being also generated here. The mills are not
so busy as they used to be, for the Hungarian and
Russian flour is driving the home product out of the
market. The spray from the falls rises high in the air,
and bathes the overhanging trees and reeds, keeping
the neighbouring rocks clothed with ferns.

After dinner we strolled along the quay to the south
of Sebenico. There was no moon, and the stars were
not as brilliant as they sometimes are in these southerly
latitudes, making it rather difficult to pick one's
way among the mysterious darknesses, which meant
obstacles of one kind or another. As we rounded a
corner a lamp or two flashed in our eyes from the other
side of a little cove, and sparkled in broken lights upon
the uneasy wavelets which splashed and tinkled against
the sides of several coasting-vessels moored near at
hand. The semi-silence of the night was broken by
musical sounds, scarcely melody, but an uneven kind of
chant, commencing in unison, and dying awTay in a
prolonged melancholy, wailing chord, swelling and
falling, almost like the notes produced by an iEolian

MUSIC OF THE MORLACCHI 261

harp as the wind sweeps over its strings. The glow of
light which showed the door of a wine-shop across the
water marked where the singers were enjoying their
melancholy music, which, in its formlessness and dying
cadences, was in strange harmony with the shapeless
undulating dark masses, which by day were rocky
islands sparsely clad with trees, now only relieved by
the glimmer of the paler water, whose lapping formed
an undertone to the stronger notes of the voices.

TRAU AND THE RIVIERA DEI SETTE CASTELLI

From Sebenico, Spalato can be reached either by boat
or by rail. On our first visit we chose the train, since
it gave us greater choice of times for making the
journey. The railway stations are generally far away
from the piers ; we had observed this at Pola and
Parenzo, and the same thing occurs at Sebenico. The
hotel porters are not allowed to carry baggage to and
from the steamers or the station ; we were told there
was a law against it, which a man sitting by said was
just enough, for the odd-job men must live ! The retro-
spect from the railway is fine. The southern end of the
inlet is in the foreground, with a training-ship upon it ;
the city on its hill lies to the right, crowned by Fort S.
Anna, and higher still the Fort S. Giovanni ; while to
the left is the other portion of the inlet which stretches
towards Scardona and to the entrance, dotted with
islands and terminated by low hills. A bright sun
illumined the whole scene, increasing the lustre of the
rocks and buildings, which contrasted sharply with
the colour of the sea, blue as the luminous over-arching
sky it reflected.

The line climbs slowly up the slopes of Monte
Dinara, towards Perkovic-Slivno, the junction for Knin
through a rather stony landscape above rich and
well-cultivated valleys. The hills in the middle-dis-
tance look barren, but the foreground is interesting on

262

THE DESCENT TO SPALATO 263

account of the variety of broken forms caused by
projecting rocks and stones. It is starred with green
humps, and there are trees in places. The humps are
stunted growths of juniper, sloe, bramble, hawthorn, or
a trifoliate plant, with grass growing in the shadow.
The trees are hawthorns, ilex, olive, fig, almond, chest-
nut, mountain ash, hornbeam, or elm, and I thought I
saw oak, though it is said that it does not grow in
Dalmatia. Colour was added by many flowers, orchids,
iris, yellow daisies, asphodel, and fields of pink pyre-
thrum ; while the dresses of groups of peasants on their
way to or from Mass gave brilliant patches of reds and
blues. Vines grew in pockets of earth among the rocks
from which loose stones had been collected to build
rough terrace walls.

At Perkovic-Slivno, the song ot nightingales be-
guiled the tedium of waiting, shut within a barrier,
for the train from Knin, for one is not allowed to
stray about until the train arrives. After a little
further climbing, the summit of the range was pierced,
and the lovely Riviera of the Castelli lay spread before
us far below. The long island of Bua stretched to-
wards the strait, by which the ancient port of Salona
was approached ; a land-locked bay, from the other side
of which above the peninsula of Monte Mar j an rose the
campanile of the cathedral of Spalato, swathed in the
scaffolding of its long-continuing restoration ; beyond
was the sea, with the southern islands in the distance,
and the littoral chain growing pale in serial perspective.
It formed an enchanting whole, equalling views which
have a world-wide reputation, opalescent in the morn-
ing sunlight, with pale purples, blues, and greens thrown
like a veil over the rich soil and the grey limestone of
the mountains. The line descends rapidly, too rapidly
for one's desires, and approaches the shore near the
fourth of the castelli, rounds the bavin which Vranjic

264 TR AU AND THE RIVIERA OF THE CASTELLI

lies, passing beneath Salona, and, crossing the Jader,
arrives at the Spalato station through cuttings which
prevent one from seeing anything of the palace wall.

On other occasions we went by boat, reaching
Spalato in the evening. After the Punta Planka, the
ancient Promontorium Syrtis is passed, where the
water is often rough, since there is no protecting screen
of islands, the campanili and towers of Trau come into
sight, between which and Bua there is a swing
bridge across the channel. Beyond this the boat passes
under the lee of Bua, on the shore of which is a solitary
white monastery; whilst on the opposite shore the
buildings of the Castelli throw long tremulous reflec-
tions across the water, and boats with sails painted
in various colours and patterns pass to right and
left, flushed with the rays of the setting sun, and
leaving trails of light or dark behind them according
as the water reflects the land or the sky. As the sun
sinks lower, leaving the sea in shadow, the glow upon
the hills becomes more and more roseate, till at last
it fades, as the strait is passed and the harbour opens.
The smoke from a cement factory hangs in the air like
evening mists in an English valley ; and, as we approach
still nearer, the long line of buildings upon the quays,
dominated by the great campanile and the colonnade
of Diocletian's palace, gradually grows more impressive
in the failing light.

It is distinctly asserted by Strabo that Trau, the
ancient Tragurium, was founded in the fourth century
B.C. by Greek Sicilians from Lissa. At a later date it
was certainly a Roman colony. After the fall of the
Western empire it was subject to the emperors of By-
zantium, and for forty years or so in the ninth century
to the Franks, after which Hungarians, Byzantines,
Genoese, and Croats struggled for it, till in 1420 it was
taken by Venice. Its first privilege was granted by

MEDIEVAL TRAU 265

Coloman of Hungary in 1108, renewed and amplified
by Stephen in 1124, Geysa III. in 1151, and Bela III.
in 1 182. Bela IV., with his family, treasures, and a
brilliant following, took refuge here in 1241 from the
Tartar hordes. He was received with due honours,
and conceded in return the confirmation of ancient
privileges, &c. The city was mainly Slav during the
Middle Ages, and, on the whole, was happy and peaceful
under Hungarian rule, though sacked by the Saracens
in 1123, and by the Venetians in 1194, under the
leadership of Vitale Michiele. Between 1322 and 1358
it belonged to the Venetians.

Under Venetian rule the walls of Dalmatian cities
towards the sea were weak, and often formed merely
by houses and towers belonging to private persons.
Those of Trau are no earlier than the thirteenth century,
and only small portions of that date remain by the tower
of the nuns of S. Nicolo. In 1289 a wall was com-
menced round the suburbs ; and Law XX. of the first
book of the Statutes obliged each count to build ten
"canne" of wall in the suburb each year, as Lucio states.
Notwithstanding this regulation, it was not finished
till 1404, and one tower even was not completed till
1 41 2. The suburb was called Citta Nova, and the
dividing wall was subsequently demolished. In 1290
Stefano d'Ugerio of Ancona, podesta, was freed from
the obligation of paving fifty paces of the street
between the two main gates, which was laid on every
podesta, so one may suppose that the paving was
completed. In Venetian times Trau had seven gates.
Of these three remain — a plain pointed arch near
S. Nicolo, the Porta Marina, and the Porta a
Terra. This latter is also known as Porta S. Giovanni
from the figure of S. Giovanni Orsino which crowns it,
and before which a lamp continually burns. The gate
is Renaissance, with the S. Mark's lion in an oblong

266TRAU AND THE RIVIERA OF THE CASTELLI

panel above the arch. From the middle of the base of
this panel a little cypress grew, which remained the
same size for generations. The country people be-
lieved that its growth was due to the wonder-working
power of the saint, and that its colour foretold
scarcity or a fruitful year. When I was there the
second time, in 1906, the podesta told me it had died.
The sea gate is also Renaissance ; from the jambs
still hang the ancient doors thickly studded with iron
nails, and behind the door is a S. Mark's lion with the
book closed, though they say it was open till the fall of
the Republic. Above the gate is another lion with an
inscription of 1642. Close by is the custom-house,
which groups picturesquely with the gateway.

The castle at the end of the quay, the Castel del
Camerlengho, was built in 1424. It is very well pre-
served. The three smaller angle towers have been
altered for cannon. It is now a store-house for sand
and such things, with a small garden and a few almond-
trees. In the corner is a little chapel nearly covered
by the sand, and I was told there was a shallow cistern
in the middle. The round tower to the north-west dates
from 1378, when the Dalmatian towns were allied with
Genoa against Venice, and Trau was the rendezvous.
The walls are battlemented, the octagonal angle towers
have had machicolations (tolerably well preserved on
one of them), and above each of the two entrances is a
projecting defensive work of the same kind.

A few discoveries have been made of pre-mediaeval
things. In 1899, some half-mile towards Spalato, two
terra-cotta urns were found, one of which had been
mended with straps of lead. It contained seven bits
of a statuette of Bacchus, which have been put together,
and three bits of a larger figure. They are now in the
museum at Spalato. In 1903, remains of an early church
were excavated on the mainland, close to the wooden

THE PORTA S. GIOVANNI, TRAU

To face page 266

S. BARBARA, TRAU 267

bridge which crosses the isolating arm of the sea, bringing
to light a mosaic pavement, part of the apse, and one
column. It was probably part of a cemetery basilica of
the fifth or sixth century, just outside the ancient wall
of Tragurium. Two Christian inscriptions of the fifth
century have been found near, upon one of which
are the words " sancta ecclesia " ; and close by was
discovered the torso of a prisoner of war, apparently
Roman work. Close to the cistern is the reversed cover
of an antique sarcophagus, and part of the front of
another with a sixth-century cross. A curious custom
still existing suggests a traditional memory of the site
of the ancient cemetery. On Holy Thursday the Con-
fraternity, after visiting the churches in the town, and
that of the cemetery (about half a mile away), returns to
the cistern, and, gathering round it, prays for the dead.

At one time there were twenty-one churches in
the city. Those of S. Nicolo and S. Barbara are early.
S. Nicolo (formerly S. Doimo) was founded in 1064 by
Giovanni Orsini for ladies of noble descent, but little
remains to show its age. There is said to be a Greek
fragment of the third century B.C. in the court of the
convent. Two early caps in the entrance portico appear
to belong to the period of foundation.

S. Barbara was originally dedicated to S. Martin, but
the name was changed when the altar from the church
of S. Barbara was brought here during the Turkish
siege of 1537 ; it is mentioned in 1194. It is the most
ancient church in Trau, and the lintel of the door has
an inscription upon it with diamond-shaped O's, as
used in the eighth century. The ornamental carving
also is consistent with that period in its design, with
crosses of interlaced work in the centre and at the ends,
two griffins with tails entwined in a circle, one on each
side of a central feature, with a rosette within a cable
moulding, and rough trefoils filling up gaps. The interior

268 TRAU ANDTHERIVIERAOFTHECASTELLI

lias nave and aisles, with four stilted arches resting
upon columns on each side, and three apses (of which the

JHtKL

PLAN AND SECTIONS, S. BARBARA, TRAU

central one is larger and longer than the others) with two
niches in the wall, covered by a semi-dome on squinches,

S. DOMENICO, TRAU 269

the plan being square. The caps and columns appear
to be antique for the most part, and just outside is a
shallow cap of the same pattern as one at Kairouan. The
aisles are very narrow, and are vaulted with cross-
vaulting without ribs, but with strengthening arches
thrown across to the wall. The nave has a barrel
vault with pilaster strips running up to the springing
of the strengthening arches, which are all round and
unmoulded. A moulding with three projecting corbels
runs round the base of the apse vault. It is said
that there was once a central cupola. The east win-
dow still retains a lattice-pierced slab. The church is
now a store-house for odds and ends, with a floor half-way
up over the western part, but the podesta told me that
they hoped to clear it out and make it into a museum.

S. Domenico retains portions of Gothic work. The
building was finished in 1372. A rough relief in the
tympanum shows a Virgin and Child, and on the right
a local saint, Augustino Cassioti, canonised by Pope
John XXII. (1313-1334), with mitre and pectoral, and
on the left S. Mary Magdalene. At the feet of the
saint kneels the foundress, his sister Bitcula. A Gothic
inscription gives her name, and that of the sculptor,
" Maiste Nicolai de te dito cervo d Venecia fecit hoc
opvs." Within are a picture of the Circumcision by
Palma Giovane, with a pretty Virgin, the marble
sarcophagus of the family Sobota, a grandiose Renais-
sance production, andsix panels of saints on gold ground,
rather like the Gubbio school in style, arranged in
threes on the wall of the choir.

The cathedral, however, is the glory of Trail. It
replaces an earlier building, reported to have dated from
the sixth century, but destroyed by the Saracens in
1123. At this time the Traurines fled to Spalato,
and apparently did not venture back till 1152. The
builder of the main part of the cathedral was Bishop

270TRAU ANDTHERIVIERAOFTHECASTELLI

Treguanus, a Florentine who came from Hungary, and
was bishop from 1206 till about 1256. The south door
bears the date 1213, the great west door 1240, but the
west gable has the arms of Bishop Casotti (1362-1371)
upon it, and the campanile was not finished till 1598.
The plan shows a nave and aisles five bays in length,
terminating in three apses, while to the west is a broad
and lofty porch, above one end of which the tower rises.
This porch is entered by an arch at the south end, but
there is another opposite the great west door ; and at the
further end is the fifteenth-century baptistery. Round it
runs a low seat with arcaded panelling, which serves as
base to all the shafts. It is vaulted in three bays, with
twisted colonnettes in the angles of the piers. The
vaulting is quadripartite, with ribs and two arches three
feet broad repeating the divisions of the nave, all the
arches being round. The central compartment rises like
a dome upon the surface of the terrace above. In the
aisle walls are two pierced circular windows, Roman-
esque in design. In one, two dragons are represented
devouring a man ; in the other are two lions rearing
against a twisted pillar on which is a. cup. The bodies
are broken, and the tails, which remain, encroach upon
the wall surface.

The great west door is the pride of all Dalmatia, and
is unsurpassed in the elaborate richness of its carving.
It is dated in the lintel inscription 1240, and signed
Raduanus, a Slav name Radovan latinised. There are
two orders and a tympanum with octagonal shafts in the
angles, those nearest the door apparently having frag-
ments of highly carved work inserted, since the plain octa-
gonal shaft is visible both above and below the carving.
A flatfish gable surmounts it, with a kind of taber-
nacle work at each end above the figures of Adam and
Eve, and a cresting of crockets shaped like eighth-cen-
tury crockets in a similar situation. In the centre is a

ill 3

I — h

PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL, TRAU

272 TRAU AND THE RIVIERA OF THE CASTELLI

little niche with a later figure of S. Laurence, the patron
saint. The tympanum is occupied by the subject of the
Nativity, arranged in two stages. In the centre above is
a curtained recess, with the Virgin in bed, and the Child
in a kind of cradle, above which the heads of the ox and
ass appear. Over them are two angels, one of whom
holds a star from which rays stream down on the Child,
whilst the other speaks to the shepherds. Below are
Joseph and two women, one of whom pours water into
a tub, while the other washes the Child in it. Behind
Joseph is a shepherd (these two figures are named).
On the left are the shepherds and their flocks ; on
the right the three kings ride up. "Guasper" and
" Balthssar " are also named. The arches above are un-
moulded, but carved on the face. On the outside order
at the top is the Crucifixion, with the Virgin and S. John
and two kneeling figures. Commencing from the bottom
on the left the subj ects run : the Flight into Egypt ;
the Entry into Jerusalem ; the Marriage of Cana, or the
Feast at Simon's House ; the Scourging of our Lord ; the
Watchers at the Grave, or the Resurrection ; the Temp-
tation, or Casting out of Devils ; and the Baptism of
Christ. Some of the reliefs are damaged. The inner
order has at the top the iVdoration of the Kings (Joseph
stands behind Madonna's throne) ; at the base the An-
nunciation (the Virgin spinning on one side, and Gabriel
with a long staff on the other). This and the cupola on
the building behind the Virgin suggest a Byzantine
model, as well as the incorrect monogram, which
is T©. The rest of the arch is filled with censing
angels. The jambs bear four-feet figures of Adam and
Eve outside the orders of the arch, holding fig-leaves in
the same manner as the figures at Sebenico, which they
much resemble. Below Eve is a lioness with two cubs
under her, and a lamb in her claws ; below Adam a lion
with a dragon in its claws ; very decorative in their effect,

CARVING ON RIGHT JAMB OF WEST DOOR, CATHEDRAL, TRAU

To face page 272

WEST DOORWAY OF THE CATHEDRAL 273

and standing upon brackets with channelled supports
enriched with balls. The pilasters are not quite homo-
geneous, and indeed scarcely agree even with their
fellows on the opposite side. Next to Adam are three
figures of Apostles with nimbi, in panels made by the
crossing of foliated stems ; next to Eve are also three
figures without nimbi, but smaller, though the panels
are similar ; two have small canopies. On the other
face are foliage scrolls with animals within them ;
on Eve's side an ass, horse, camel, elephant, hippo-
potamus, and the Oriental motif of a griffin stooping
over its prey ; on Adam's side a woman riding on a
horse, a centaur with a dart, a mermaid, a sea-horse,
and at the bottom a griffin devouring a scroll, with a
human head attached. Below the ornament are semi-
nude caryatid figures on one side ; on the other they
have turbans and shoes, and one has ankle band-
ages. In the angle is an octagonal shaft of green marble
which continues round the arch. The reliefs on Eve's
side in the next order show details of burgher life and
agriculture, probably labours of the months or seasons —
pruning leafless trees, the preparation of leather, a man
seated by a fire on which is a cauldron, whilst a woman
fills his cup from a skin over her shoulder, behind hang
sausages. Above is a pig which a man is about to kill.
The other side is similar. Above are shepherds shearing
sheep in a wood ; then comes a figure holding a scroll
upon which there is no inscription ; below is a warrior
with sword, baton, and shield, below him a nude man
with flying hair, both among twining branches. Upon
the other face are spirals of leaf ornament with heads of
men and beasts, resembling a piece of antique carving at
Spalato, finished with extraordinary care and mastery.
Caryatid figures support this order also, turbaned and
clothed with tunic and cloak. The carved portions of
the inner columns are of a white limestone, while the

274TRAU AND THE RIVIERA OF THE CASTELLI

octagonal shafts are of green marble ; and this gives
some support to the legend that they were brought from
Bihac, a castle of the kings of Croatia and Dalmatia, and
later of the kings of Hungary, a short distance away, of
which scarcely a sign now remains.* These shafts have
elaborate scrolls of intertwining branches and leaves,
with animals, including some not found in Dalmatia.
The hunter has a greyhound. There are a stag, a bear, a
sow, hares dragged out by peasants, &c. ; here there is a
female centaur ; there a girl seated on an ox, a wood-
devil with two horns, &c. On the other side are lions
and bears, figures fighting, a young man with a falcon,
loose dogs, &c., all most carefully carved. Beneath
the lintel two caps with amorini of the fifteenth or six-
teenth century have been inserted.

The south door is simpler, but in the same round-
arched style. It has square orders with rolls laid in the
reveals, of which the inner one resembles a cable, and the
outer chain mail. In the semicircular tympanum is a
round window enclosing a quatrefoil surrounded by an
inscription with the date 1213 and the name of Bishop
Treguanus. The side walls are divided into five spaces
by piers; an arched corbelled cornice terminating in
mouldings runs along them, and returns up the slope of
the east wall. Above it is a curious little loggia with very
squat pillars and brackets imitating the wood forms of
Venetian courtyards, but cut in stone. The alteration
in the slope of the east end shows that it is a later addi-
tion. The same kind of cornice finishes the east gable
and the nave walls, and also runs round the apses, but
with richer mouldings above it, especially round the
central one. The curious Dalmatian square-leaf en-
richment, channelled in six radiating striae, and termi-
nating in a small volute at the top corner occurs here.
There are two shafts to each small apse dividing the wall

* The last king to visit it was Sigismund in 1387.

EXTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL, TRAU 275

space, and one window, but the central apse has four
twisted shafts and three windows, of which the central
one is largest. In the gable is a rose-window. On the
roof of the northern aisle the lines of the plan and eleva-
tion of parts of the campanile are cut, working drawings
for the masons. Heads of beasts project beneath the
aisle cornice as gargoyles. Above the ground story
the tower is Gothic, and has two Gothic windows of
two lights on the south side, with octagonal shafts
and traceried heads. The other sides have arcading
divided into two panels. Here there is an inscription
giving the date of 1422, and the names of the Masters
Mateus and Stefanus, probably the Matteo Goykovic
who contracted for the repair of church and campanile
with the " operarius " of the church in 142 1. The stage
above has tall square-headed windows, with reticulated
tracery in the heads of cusped circles or quatrefoils, and
two lights below with central colonnette. The angles
have shafts, and there is a pointed trefoiled cornice with
carved mouldings and cornice above. The third story
is Renaissance, finished in 1598 by Trifon Boccanich.
Gothic details still appear as in the shafted two-light
windows, with the pierced quatrefoils above and the
twisted shafts at the angles. The whole finishes
with a pyramidal spire, imitating the Venetian cam-
panile. The gable above the portico has an enormous
wheel-window of sixteen divisions, which had a door
beneath it.

The nave is 19 ft. 6 in. broad. Its piers vary in
width, and the round-arched arcade is irregular in its
spacing. The north aisle is broader than the south.
The piers and arches are unmoulded ; the arches have
two orders, carved imposts, and a very small base.
The main arches of the vault have mouldings at each
side of a flat surface, and are pointed ; the lesser ribs
are twisted. The central bay only has a rib running

276TRAU ANDTHERIVIERAOFTHECASTELLI

east and west at the summit of the arch. The aisles
are vaulted in the same manner, but with semicircular
section. All the vaults are domical, and those of the
nave spring from corbels carved in the style of Venetian
fifteenth-century work. This agrees with the statement
that the vaulting dates from 1427-31, and was strength-
ened by chains and iron anchors in 1440. The central
bay has the south door on one side of it, the chapel of
S. Giovanni Orsini to the north ; and the pulpit against
the north-eastern pier marks the commencement of the
choir, which is raised two steps above the level of the
nave. A stone bench runs round the apse, but there is
no sign of an episcopal seat in the centre. The ciborium
is somewhat of the type used by the Roman marble-
workers in the twelfth century, but the proportions re-
semble those at S. Nicola, Bari, more than the other
Italian examples. It is of grey marble, and bears upon
the western angles of the square portion figures of the
Virgin and the Angel Gabriel, the latter kneeling, for
which the change to octagonal plan for the upper por-
tion leaves room. The figures are fifteenth-century in
character, and on the bases are the names of the artist
and of the overseer — on that of the Virgin, "Mavrvs
me fecit " ; on the angels', " Bitalis qda Martini opraHi,"
in Lombardic letters. The " operarii " were generally
nobles, and had control of the church works. A gilded
inscription on the front of the architrave gives the
angelic greeting. The columns are of cipollino ; the
caps, once gilded, are very like those of the pulpit,
which seems to be of the same date. It is octagonal
and surrounded by round-arched arcading, two arches
to a side, with coupled columns on the sides and three
at the angles, above single arches resting upon shafts
of precious marbles with elaborate caps which also at
one time were gilded. The design suggests the copying
of a metal original in the treatment of the foliage scrolls

INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL, TRAU

To face page 276

INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL, TRAU 277

and the heads of the monsters, and contrasts with the
pulpit at Spalato, in which a wood treatment of the
capitals is suggested. The column for the book-rest
stands on a little lion bracket ; of the eagle which
once surmounted it only the claws remain. Beneath it
William, son of Baldwin, emperor of Constantinople,
was buried in 1242. The choir stalls are of the
fourteenth-century Gothic type, like those at Arbe
and Zara, touched with colour and gilding. They cost
eighteen ducats of gold each, and were restored in 1757
and 1852. The carved portions are added, not cut
out of the solid. The chapel of S. Jerome at the west
end on the north was built in 1458. It has a quatre-
foil wooden grille, made by cutting triangles out of
the uprights and cross-pieces equal in size to the
angles remaining. On the west wall is a little relief
of a Virgin and Child, S. Jerome, and a saint with
halberd, beneath early Renaissance niches and chan-
nelled pilasters. On the nave piers are paintings, most
of them of little value. A S. Jerome and S. John the
Baptist show decorative feeling in the landscape and
its combination with the figure ; and on the second
pier on each side is a row of nine saints and angels, small
figures as if from a predella, which show a combination
of Peruginesque and Florentine design and colour.
Eitelberger says the paintings above the side altar are
ascribed to the younger Palma. The cross of lamps
which hangs in the nave recalls S. Mark's, Venice, as do
the harmonious tone of the interior and the colonnettes
of precious marbles of the pulpit. The great crucifix
was brought from Venice in 1508. The organ was made
by Frater Urbinus in 1485. Its wings, painted in 1489
by Giovanni Bellini, are now on the first pier. In 1767
another organ replaced it. The sacristy, an irregular
building of 1444-1452, cost 4,020 zecchins. It has a
pointed barrel vault, and contains a very fine row of

278 TRAU ANDTHERIVIERAOFTHECASTELLI

cupboards worked by Gregorio di Vido in 1452, made of
walnut, carved and inlaid, and costing 125 ducats. The
treasury was once the richest in Dalmatia, but now only
contains a few objects — arm reliquaries, ostensory, and
a silver-gilt ewer, &c. The most interesting things are
some embroideries and a MS. of the ninth or tenth cen-
tury, with very beautiful script. The embroideries are
the centre of a cope, with S. Martin dividing his cloak,
in high relief (the horse, drapery, and crown in seed
pearls, the hair in gold, and the canopy ornamented
with gilded discs and seed pearls) of the beginning of
the fifteenth century, and a mitre said to have been
Bishop Casotti's, with the Virgin and Child standing in
the centre (at each side Byzantine roundels painted on
gold, the whole set in jewels and with seed pearls).

The chapel of S. Giovanni Orsini and the baptistery
remain to be described. S. Giovanni was the greatest
of the bishops who filled the see of Trau, and was
canonised in 1192. He came to the city with the legate
John of Toledo in the time of the Croatian king Cresi-
mir. The papacy desired to unif}/- the ritual of the
Church, substituting the Latin language and the Roman
use for the national liturgies, as it had done in Spain, in
Milan, and Aquileia. At this time there was no bishop
of Trau. The piety and strict life of S. Giovanni were
soon noised abroad, and the people desired him for their
bishop. In this they were supported by the legate, and
he was consecrated in 1064 by Archbishop Lauren tius
of Spalato. He dismissed his servants, and went through
long night-watches, lying naked on straw spread on the
floor, to mortify the flesh. The fame of miraculous oc-
currences accompanied his austerities. His hand on the
wine-press produced abundance of juice ; he escaped dry-
shod from a wreck near Sebenico ; and destroyed by his
words the war-engines of Coloman in n 05, when he was
attacking Zara. A white dove which settled on his

THE CHAPEL OF S. GIOVANNI ORSINI 279

head when in conference with the king at Castell, near
Sebenico, was taken as a spiritual symbol. He prophe-
sied his own death and the destruction of Sebenico, and
miracles were performed at his grave. The body was
found in Bua after the Traurines returned from Spalato
in 1 152, though another account says that it was dis-
covered within the area of the cathedral, near the high-
altar where there is now a well. In 1174 he is reported
to have appeared above the building in the form of a
shining star ; and after that the commune adopted a
comet as the arms of the city. The chapel stands on
the site of the more ancient double chapel of SS. Doimus
and Anastasius. It was begun under Bishop Turlon in
1468, the architects being Masters Nicolo Fiorentino
and Andrea Alecxi of Durazzo, the stipulated price
being 3,300 ducats, and the work occupying six years.
The chapel is rectangular, with a barrel vault. Round
the walls a seat runs, the front of which is ornamented
with diamond forms filled with foliage. Above it is a
kind of stylobate with pilasters supporting the columns
of the next stage, the spaces between them decorated
with reliefs of torch-bearing putti, who are represented
as issuing from partly open double doors, some of which
are very pretty. Each side contains six arches, two of
which are pierced with windows, the others having shell-
headed niches divided by channelled pilasters or twisted
columns, and tenanted by statues nearly life-size. Those
which are named are " S. Tomas, S. Ioannes Evangelista,
S. Pavlvs, and S. Filippo." Others recognisable by their
attributes are S. John the Evangelist as an old man, with
the eagle at his feet, S. Mark with his lion, Madonna and
S. John the Baptist on the end wall, with our Lord in the
centre. Vasari says that Alessandro Vittoria did four
Apostles in the church of Trau, and it is suggested that
the named figures are these four. The architects
carved the first figure, that of S. John the Evangelist,

280TRAU ANDTHERIVIERAOFTHECASTELLI

in 1482, at a cost of twenty-five ducats. Between
the heads of the niches little children stand on the
capitals, and above the cornice is a space pierced by
oculi between pilasters. The ceiling is coffered with
a cherub's head in each panel, except the central one,
which is four times the area of the others, and con-
tains a half-length of Christ, surrounded by a wreath,
holding an orb, and blessing. On the lunette is
the Coronation of the Virgin. Above the altar is the
ancient tomb of the saint, upon the lid of which is his
effigy, with silver-plated mitre, and crozier, gloves and
shoes. It is of red marble, the front being divided into
three panels by twisted colonnettes, once gilt, with
statuettes at the corners, and bears an inscription giving
the date 1348. The angels are modern. On the pier
opposite the side door an inscription records the gift of
the right femur of " B. Jo. Ursinus " to Benedict XIII.
by the Venetian senate in 1724.

The baptistery is of the same date as the chapel, and
was founded by the same bishop, who belonged to the
Anconitan family of Turglonia. The door externally is
square-headed, and has an architrave with sculptured
della Robbia like fruits. Over it is a Baptism of Christ,
with God the Father and the Dove above. Within is a
frieze of putti bearing garlands, with shell-head niches
and channelled pilasters below. Above this is a band
of Venetian-Gothic leaves, and in the coffered ceiling
are rosettes. This ceiling is a pointed wagon vault, cut
from two great blocks of marble, which meet in the
centre. A round window in the west gable lights well
a life-sized figure of S. Jerome above the altar, the
warm brown tint of a portion of the stone being
cunningly used to give the effect of shadow on the
upper part of the figure. A seat runs round the base of
the wall as in the chapel. An inscription gives the
name of Andreas Alexius of Durazzo, and the date

THE LOGGIA AT TRAU 281

1467. The cost was 4,980 zecchins. The resemblance of
this baptistery to portions of the cathedral at Sebenico
is striking.

The Loggia faces the cathedral at the other side of
the piazza. One of the shorter ends is open ; the other
is closed by the clock-tower, and on this wall is
elaborate carved ornamentation, behind the seat of the
judges. The floor is three feet above the piazza, and is
approached by five semicircular steps. Towards the
piazza five marble pillars (in several pieces) support
moulded brackets, upon which an architrave beam
rests, and there is one on the shorter side. The caps
are of different dates, and for the most part come from
older buildings, one indeed being antique. Between
the columns is an early Renaissance balustrade. Stone
benches run along the walls. Above the judges' seat
the wall is panelled. In the central top panel is a
figure of Justice seated upon a winged globe ; right and
left of her are half-lengths of winged figures with in-
scribed scrolls, laudatory of Justice, emergent from
circles. Below Justice is a great lion of S. Mark, and
below the other figures are S. Giovanni Orsini with a
model of Trau, and S. Laurence with his gridiron. At
each side is a long panel with a candelabrum very like
those in panels in the chapel in the cathedral, which
make it pretty certain that the carving is by the same
hand, especially as the date 1471 appears in one of
the inscriptions. There are other inscriptions with the
dates 1513 and 1606, and later coats of arms. On the
corner shaft are the arms of Pietro Loredano. By
the judges' seat is a piece of iron which marks the
place where the criminal was chained when his crime
was announced. The restoration was carried out in
1892 by Professor Hauser. Right of the steps three
standard measures stood till 1843.

It is interesting to note a few of the pains and

282TRAU ANDTHERIVIERAOFTHECASTELLI

penalties inflicted. The statute was revised in 1291
and 1303 by the first Venetian Count, M. Morosini,
who collected the chapters into three volumes. The
town physician was not allowed to leave the town with-
out permission from the count under a fine of twenty-
five lire di piccoli. No one could go about at night
without a light, and a fine of forty soldi was incurred by
gambling anywhere except in the piazza. Spinning was
forbidden to the saleswomen on the loggia — fine, five
soldi. A servant who stole from his lord had his nose
cut off, or lost one or both eyes if the value was ten to
twenty-five lire. If the value was greater the thief
was hung up till he died. In Trau there was neither
bridge-playing nor company-promoting.

Trau is tolerably rich in the remains of ancient
houses, of which the drawing shows an example. The
most celebrated is the Casa Cippico facing the cathedral,
of late Venetian-Gothic verging on Renaissance. The
court inside was built in 1457. In the entrance hall are
preserved two wooden prow ensigns taken from the
Venetian galleys during war between Trau and Spalato ;
one is in the form of a cock standing on a clenched hand,
the other a fragment of a small figure of a man. Also
an inscription flanked by two shields with rampant
lions, which are good. Opposite the Loggia, on the other
side of the street, is a highly decorative lintel, which
appears to have belonged to a palace of the Cippico,
with two contemplative lions and half-length angels in
roundels with scrolls. The caps have the same kind of
foliage as is seen at Curzola and Sebenico. The Austrian-
Lloyd office is on the ground floor of a tower of the
Venetian period, now a nunnery. It has a trefoiled
ogee- window and a great balcony above it, with trellises
behind which the nuns can take the air without being
seen, recalling those of Sicilian nunneries. All the
other openings are square-headed.

A DECAYED PALACE, TRAU

To fare pa°e 282

THE CHURCH OF S. GIOVANNI, TRAU 283

The ruined church of S. Giovanni, formerly belonging
to a Benedictine nunnery, has exactly the same
patterns about it as the cathedral, and must be of the
same date. Along the nave walls, and ramping up the
gables, is a double-arched corbel cornice with pilasters
at the angles, and a bell turret consisting of a prolonga-
tion of the nave wall, gabled and with three pointed
arched openings, two below, and one above. In the

LATE GOTHIC LINTEL AT TRAU

tympanum of the door is a pierced roundel with the
Agnus Dei.

The Palazzo Comunale has been rebuilt, preserving
the portions which were of special interest, and also
pieces of architectural carving from other parts of the
city. Its interest is therefore rather that of a museum
now. I was fortunate enough, on one of my visits, to
have the guidance of the podesta, Commendatore

284TRAU AND THE RIVIERA OF THE CASTELL I

Madirazza, to whom I had been introduced by Professor
Bulic at Spalato. I have to thank him for showing
me several things I should otherwise have missed.

From Bua (Bavo or Boa), an island used by the
Romans as a place of exile, a comprehensive view of
Trau may be obtained, with towers and campanile
breaking the line of the houses, with the strait in the
foreground, and with boats drawn up on the shore.
In a private garden is a palm-tree said to be the most
northerly specimen in Dalmatia, though there are
several at Lussin Piccolo, which is much farther north.

Our first visit to Trau was made by carriage from
Spalato, and occupied the whole of a most delightful
day, for we did not get back till long after dark. The
excellent road is due to the French, but follows the line
of that made by the Romans or before their time, pass-
ing quite near the Castelli, some of which we were able
to visit. It was spring : the vines were making long shoots,
and the fields and banks were gemmed with flowers ; on
one side, the sapphire sea ; on the other, the mountain
slopes, with scented breezes to cool the ardour of the
sun. For the most part the peasants, men and women,
were busy in the fields, or washing by the stream, and
appeared well-to-do, though we passed one man half
naked, searching his garments upon a heap of stones.
But he, we gathered from a gendarme near, was con-
sidered weak in the head. Long before the town is ap-
proached, the towers of Trau are silhouetted against the
horizon, emphasising the point of land which they termi-
nate, grey walls and dark trees running together into a
mass, but contrasting with each other on a nearer view.
We started on our return a little before sunset, while the
sun's level rays cast long simplifying shadows across the
landscape, and enjoyed the glow upon flowery hillside
and purple crag, from which the houses flashed out like
jewels, and the water beneath changed its colour with

BETWEEN TRAU AND SPALATO 285

the changing sky. The twilight faded while we were
passing Salona, and in the long climb to the crest of the
rising ground above Spalato we had only the light of the
carriage lamps, finally alighting outside the northern
wall of the palace (for carriages cannot enter within the
town) weary, but rilled with delightful impressions and
recollections. Another time we went by boat, starting
at 6 o'clock, and enjoying the early morning freshness
of effect. In this trip also we had the opportunity of
visiting some of the Castelli, which are interesting gener-
ally rather for their picturesqueness than for archaeo-
logical reasons. In the chapter dealing with Spalato
will be found some details as to remains of the early
Croatian period found along the coast and in the
environs. At Castel Vecchio we saw on the wall of
the churchyard a cross with a much damaged antique
cap as base, and another antique base on a larger
scale beneath it. It was 6.40 a.m., and along the shore,
a little way off, a procession was passing with a tinkling
bell, two banners, and processional crosses, preceding
a figure in a cope of white and gold beneath a canopy.
It was Low Sunday (called Piccola Pasqua in Dalmatia),
and the priest was bearing the Host either to some
sick person or to a neighbouring church. Such sights
are frequent in the country places, where religious
observances are more evident than in the towns.

Whichever way Trau is visited from Spalato
(given pleasant weather) the day may be looked forward
to as giving a constant succession of delightful experi-
ences, of which the central point will be the mediaeval-
looking city with its magnificent cathedral and glorious
west door, though the quaintness of the costume of
the country people, very individual and unlike other
Morlacchi costumes, will count for something.

The Castelli were built as defences against Turkish
raids. Starting from Trau the first is Castel Papali ;

286TRAU ANDTHERIVIERAOFTHECASTELLI

Castelnuovo, Castel Vecchio, Castel Vitturi, Castel
Cambio, and Castel Abbadessa follow, and Castel Sucurac
is the nearest to Spalato and Clissa. These are the
Sette Castelli, but there are several others — Stafileo,

Andreis, Cega, Quarco, and
Dragazzo.

Castel Papali, or Nehaj, is
three-quarters of an hour from
Trau, and was built in 1548 by
Lodovico and Giovanni Celio.
It was then called Celio or
Lodi. In 1680 it passed to the
family of Francesco Papali, the
Celi having failed of heirs
male. It now belongs to Count
Fanfogna-Garagnin of Trau.

Castel Stafileo was built in
1500 by Stefano Stafileo, of a
family established in Trau
coming from Candia. He se-
parated it from the mainland,
and it was entered by a draw-
bridge ; the ditch is now filled
up. The concession is dated
1484.

Castel Dragazzo, or Dracic,
founded by Matteo Dragazzo
in 1543, on a concession from
the Venetian senate, was never

A QUAINT COSTUME, TRAU /- • i i • r i •

finished, in consequence 01 his
death. The material of the walls was used to construct
the port of Castelnuovo. The Dragazzi appear in 1389.
They were originally butchers, but for about three
centuries gave the country men of intellect and valour.
Castel Quarco " in Bile," of which very little is left,
was built in 1588 by Giovanni Quarco with a walled

<
p

THE CASTELLI 287

courtyard. The site was granted to Matteo Dragazzo,
who ceded it to Quarco.

The church at Castelnuovo inherited with the title
of S. Pietro the rights of S. Pietro di Klobucac, a little
inland on the slope of the hill (where remains of a
monastery or palace of the ninth to the eleventh century
have been found). It was demolished in 1420. Ac-
cording to tradition some of the objects there preserved
came from the older church. The fiala of the high-altar,
a panel painting on gesso ground, the Virgin and Child
seated, on the right S. Peter with the keys, on the left
S. John the Baptist with scroll " Ecce Agnus Dei," half-
length, is one thing. The inscriptions are in Roman
capitals. Also two Romanesque-looking bronze candle-
sticks. The Castello has a square tower, which has lost
the balcony which surrounded it at the. height of the
first floor. In the piazza is the Loggia, rebuilt in 1795,
as an inscription states. It was burnt in 1523 together
with most of the houses. The prow editor e granted
materials for rebuilding, but it was again burnt in 1575.
Until recently this Castello belonged to the Cippico.
It was the birthplace of the historian Katalinic, born
here in 1779.

Castel Vecchio was founded in 1481 by Coriolanus
Cippico, with booty gained in the war against Mahomet
II. in 1 47 1, as is testified by the inscription over the
gate, " Triremis ex manubiis Asiaticis hanc villain
aedincavit," with date 1481. Tradition says that a
house on the left of the eastern gate with a walled
courtyard was also his work. He died here in 1493,
leaving it to his sons Alvise, bishop of Famagosta, and
Zuanne, archbishop of Zara. Over a door in the court-
yard is the Cippico crest with the motto ''Omnia exalto."
Opposite is a chapel dedicated to S. Joseph and the
Virgin, built by Coriolanus's son Laelius, according to the
inscription, with the incredibly late date of 1695. In

288TRAU AN D THE RIVIERA OF THE C AS TELLI

1480 Nicolo Pisani, count of Trau, received a " ducale "
from Giovanni Mocenigo, in which Cippico was pro-
mised munitions of war and men-at-arms to preserve
the Castello, and, by the assurance of security, to attract
cultivators to the fertile country " for greater public
usefulness/' This seems to support Karaman's state-
ment that the Castello was founded in 1476. An in-
scription of 1492 above the arch between the court and
main street records its ruin by fire and restoration by
the senate. In 1500 the Venetian Government com-
pleted Cippico' s work at a cost of 500 ducats. It was
called Castel Vecchio because it was the first of the
Castelli founded.

Castel Vitturi, built in 1487 by Girolamo and Nicolo
Vitturi of Trau, by concession from Count Carlo
di Pesaro, is now without drawbridge or ditch. The
founder of the family, Lampridio, son of Giacomo
Vitturi, a Venetian noble, came to Trau in 12 13, and
married Bona Cega. The Castello is square, with two
gates, one to the sea, and the other to the north, ap-
parently entirely rebuilt in 1563, except the north side,
which still has two turrets flanking the gate pierced for
musketry, and traces of the holes through which the
chains of the drawbridge passed, also of a balcony which
was probably for defence.

The next one is Castel Rosani (Rusinac), built in
1482 by Michele Rosani, under a concession from
Count Francesco Ferro. The village was surrounded
with walls ; but, fearing that they would not be able to
beat off the Turks, the inhabitants dismantled them,
and sought refuge in Castel Vitturi, which was larger and
better fortified. It is still in good preservation, how-
ever, with its little church, which contains the tomb of
the unfortunate lovers whose story has been told by
Marco di Casotti.

Castel Cambio (Kambelovac) was built in 1566 by

THE CASTELLI 289

Francesco Cambi of Spalato. It is still partly pre-
served. At one time it formed one parish with the
adjacent Castel Abbadessa (Gomilica). It belonged
to the lordship of Sucurac, which embraced nine
villages. The nuns in the sixteenth century erected the
Castello on an island, and here the abbesses were wont to
come for the summer ; hence the name. The nuns built
the little church at the entrance of the village on the
right of the road ; it was dedicated to SS. Cosmo and
Damian, and consecrated by Assalone, archbishop of
Spalato, 1159-1160. It is suggested that the Slav name
Gomilica ("masses of masonry") comes from the fact
that the newer houses were built with the ruins of the
village of Kozice, destroyed by the Turks.

Castel Sucurac is the nearest of the Castelli to
Spalato, the first to which the Turks would come, de-
scending from Clissa. The position and the Roman re-
mains found here are held to prove that it was a suburb
of Salona. It took its name from S. Giorgio, a little
chapel upon the hill, which in Croat is called Sut Juraj,
corrupted into Sucuraj. The church was built by the
great zupan Miroslav ; and the ruined walls which sur-
round the present chapel, showing a foot above the soil,
are supposed to be the remains of that church, since
there are amongst them a few pieces of carved stone.
The most ancient Croat document existing is a deed of
gift of this place and church to the Archbishop of
Spalato, Pietro III., by the King Trpimir, in 837, in ex-
change for £11 given by the archbishop for the construc-
tion of the church and monastery of S. Peter, between
the ruins of Salona and the fortress of Klis. In 1076
King Zvonimir confirmed the gift. One of the finest
buildings in the village is the palace of the archbishop,
dated 1488 by an inscription over the door. The Castello
and walls round the village were built by Andrea Gualdo,
archbishop in 1392, by concession of Valchio, ban of

290TRAU AND THE RIVIERA OF THE CASTELL I

Croatia. In 1489 Archbishop Bartolommeo Averoldo
of Brescia, built a second wall. In 1503 it was
further strengthened ; but two years later the Turks
burnt it. In 1646, after being repulsed from Spalato,
they attacked Sucurac again, but were unsuccessful.
The first summer palace of the archbishops was in
Vranjic ; it was destroyed by the Venetian fleet in 1204.

Castel Cega was built by Andrea di Celio Cega in 1487,
and rebuilt by Paolo Andreis. The Celio were an ancient
family of Trau, said to date from Roman times, and had
many branches, one of which (extinct in 15 11) was
called Celio-Morte, because a member of it had the
habit of threatening opponents with death, and used a
skull for his crest.

The following privileges were enjoyed by the nobles
of the Castelli, or founders of the towns. The right to
special contributions from the country people, and the
jus patronato of the churches. The sacristan, without
their assent, could not give the third signal of the Mass,
nor of Vespers on festival days, a usage which is still
observed at Castel Cambio and Castel Vitturi. In the
church they had their own benches,, and the space they
occupied could not be taken by any one else, not even for
the erection of new altars. When the provveditore was
present at solemn functions a bench was placed for him
and the " padroni," as well as for the authorities of
the Castelli and the colonel of the district. They were
the first to receive incense after the priest at Mass ; and
there were numerous other similar customs. If a child
of the "padrone" died, all the bells rang ; if an adult,
they were clappered ; and all the confraternities had to
be present at the funeral, whether in the village, at
Spalato, or at Trau. The " padrone " was the medium
of communication between the higher authorities and
the village headman, who had to close the gates at night,
and take him the key. He received the tolls paid for

PRIVILEGES OF THE NOBLES 291

living in the village ; and there was a kind of corvee of
forced work. Moreover, he had the right to buy the
houses of those who sold them, at a third less than their
real value, to sell again to fresh inhabitants. The oil-
mills belonged to him, and a fifth of the produce was
divided between him and the customs. If the olives
were taken elsewhere a tenth of the oil was paid to him
all the same. Wine-presses were also his property ; the
oven, too, and a proportion of the wine made and bread
baked went to him. Nothing could be bought or sold
without his license. He received all the tongues of
oxen killed, and the heads of pigs. He covered the
cistern in time of drought, and water could only be
drawn when he took the cover off. The streets were
ordered to be kept clean, and slops taken to the sea, not
thrown out of the window ! At Christmas and Easter
the country people still bring presents to their lords.

The proverb " Wine of the Castelli, honey of Solta,
and milk of Bua " is still justified ; and agents for wine
merchants, especially French, bargain for the wines
before the grapes are ripe. Enormous hogsheads are
shipped on the boats, and the transhipping them is
often a dangerous business, if we may judge from our
own experiences. At Castel Vecchio we were nearly
spectators of a serious accident when a cord slipped,
and we observed that the men crossed themselves each
time one was safely lowered into the hold.

XXI

SPALATO

Spalato appears for the first time in the "Tavola
Peutingeriana " under the name Aspalathos, as a station
on the shore road which led from the promontory Ad
Dianam (at the end of Monte Marjan) to Epetium
(Stobrec) below Salona, but appears at that time to
have been a place of no importance. It, however, is
thus proved to have existed before the end of the
third century, which makes the accepted derivation of
the name from " ad Palatium " plainly erroneous. Its
great celebrity is due to the palace which Diocletian
began to build for himself there shortly before 300 a.d.
and to which he retired after his. abdication in 305.
Within its walls fugitives from Salona, who had re-
turned from the islands to which they had fled at
the time of the destruction of the city in 639, found
shelter, and so the existing city began its mediaeval
course. The palace faced the sea to the south, and
along this side were the imperial apartments with the
open loggia of fifty arches raised above the water
upon massive substructures. The plan is not quite
square, but imitates a Roman camp, with great square
towers at the angles, a gate in the centre of each of
three sides flanked with octagonal towers, and with
smaller square towers between gates and angles. To-
wards the sea was a water gate on a lower level. The
material is marble from Trau and Brazza limestone.

292

THE PORTA AUREA, SPALATO

To face page 293

PALACE OF DIOCLETIAN 293

The sea facade is about 550 ft. long, the north about
530 ft., the east and west some 620 ft. The external
walls are double throughout, of worked stone filled in
with concrete, the thickness being 6 ft. 6 in., and the
height from 60 to 80 ft. On the three land facades
are double-arched windows 20 ft. from the ground,
6 ft. 6 in. broad, and a little over 11 ft. high. Only
three of the angle towers remain, the fourth having
fallen in 1555. The principal gateway is towards
Salona, and is known as the Porta Aurea. Above the
gate itself is an open arch flanked by niches on each
side ; above them are brackets which sustained the
columns of a higher row of seven niches, the whole
forming a grandiose architectural composition, of which
the illustration shows the effect. The passage-way is

13 ft. high by 11 ft. 3 in. wide. The other gates are
known as the Porta Ferrea and Porta Argentea. The
latter has practically disappeared ; the former is over

14 ft. high, and the same width as the Porta Aurea, but
without its architectural magnificence. These gates
gave entrance to streets which divided the palace into
quarters, that from the Porta Aurea leading to the
great peristyle, around and beyond which were the
public buildings and the imperial apartments, while
the women's quarter was probably to the west of this
street, and the officials' rooms to the east, the street at
right angles separating them from the more important
parts of the palace.

The colonnade of the peristyle, which is 114 ft. by
50 ft., consists of six free-standing columns of red
granite on each side and four at the end. Those at the
sides support arches beneath an architrave continued
across the end and rising into an arched form over the
central space beneath the pediment. This portion is
raised several steps above the general level. To the
left is the cathedral, an octagonal building which was

294 SPALATO

the mausoleum of Diocletian, with the campanile
standing between it and the peristyle, through which
a flight of steps leads ; these will again form the entrance
when the restorations are completed. Towards the
sea steps give entrance to the " atrio rotondo/' a circular
ante-room, once decorated with precious statues,
paintings, and other costly ornaments, while the lantern
of the roof was covered with purple hangings. The
decoration has vanished, leaving mere construction
except for the fine door of entry. To the right, at the
end of a narrow alley, is the baptistery, formerly prob-
ably the emperor's private temple or chapel, as one may
say, which now contains a very interesting font made
up of fragments of ninth-century carving, and the beau-
tiful doors of the cathedral, stored there temporarily.
The base blocks of the cathedral are nearly 20 ft. high,
and there are twenty-two steps in the flight of approach.
The portico which surrounds it has columns of marble
and granite 21 ft. high. Only nineteen remain of the
original twenty-four. The caps are Corinthian, and they
sustain the usual architrave, frieze, and cornice. The
octagon within has alternate semicircular and rect-
angular niches, except on the side which opens into the
late Renaissance choir ; at each angle stands a column
of Egyptian granite with Corinthian cap, and a highly
decorated but rather heavy order runs round the in-
terior. Above this is a second smaller row of columns
of porphyry with a shallower order, reaching to the
springing of the dome, which is built of Dalmatian
tiles, arranged in imbrications. Round the upper
frieze are putti hunting, bearing garlands, &c. The
height to the dome is 68 ft., and the internal diameter
42 ft. A couple of niches in the upper order are so
arranged that a word spoken low in one is well heard
in that opposite, an arrangement supposed to have
been connected with oracular responses. Before the

DOOR OF THE " ATRIO ROTONDO," PALACE OF DIOCLETIAN,

SPALATO

To face page 294

PLAN OF CATHEDRAL AND CAMPANILE, SPALATO

296 SPALATO

restoration there were galleries on the columns, both
below and above.

The high-altar stands under the niche which has been
opened to give access to the choir. At each side of it
are the altars of S. Ranier and S. Anastasius, the latter
made by George of Sebenico in 1448 to match the former,
made in 1427 by the Milanese Gasparo Bonino, and
both Gothic. To the left is the very beautiful pulpit
shown in the illustration. It bears considerable
resemblance to that at Trau, but is superior to it both
in design and execution. The lower capitals are worked
as if in wood, which makes the tradition all the more
probable that Guvina (who made the beautiful doors in
1 2 14) had to do with the making of it. The very origi-
nal stalls in the choir, with their curious combination
of Eastern and Western motifs, have also been ascribed
to him ; brought hither, as is thought, from S. Stefano
de Pinis when it was destroyed.

The treasury contains a good many interesting
things, among which the first place should perhaps be
given to a fine Gospel book of the eighth century, upon
which the suffragan bishops used to swear fealty to the
metropolitan, reciting the commencement of the Gospel
of S. John in Greek, which portion is therefore trans-
lated from the Latin for that purpose. Eight formulas
used by suffragan bishops from 1059 to I200 are inserted
in it. Two other MSS. are interesting on account of
their bindings, a Gospel book and a missal, both of the
thirteenth century, reset in the seventeenth. On one is
Christ seated on the rainbow in the attitude of blessing,
within a mandorla, with cruciferous nimbus and the
monograms " IC XC," the corners being filled with the
symbols and names of the Evangelists ; on the back is
the Madonna enthroned with the Child, and two angels
in circles ; above is the inscription " Michael, Mater Dni,
Gabriel." The other binding, which is rather later in

INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL, SPALATO

To face page 296

THE CATHEDRAL TREASURY

297

style, shows our Lord in Glory, with the monograms
" Ihs xrc" in an ornamented mandorla, and the Evan-
gelists' symbols ; and, on the back, the Crucifixion, with
the feet separate. There are eight chalices, all of the

RELIQUARIES AND CHALICE, TREASURY, SPALATO CATHEDRAL

fourteenth or fifteenth century, damaged by an inexpert
goldsmith who had them to repair, with nielli or enamel
grounds to the medallions, and good foliage in relief ;
two arms of S. Doimus, richly set with gems and precious

298

SPALATO

stones among filigree ; a good late fourteenth-century
head of S. Giovanni Elemosinario ; a morse of the same
period, with gems and nielli ; a fifteenth-century pax of
gilded brass ; and several interesting and very early
crosses, probably of the eighth or ninth century, some
even earlier. One of these, bearing a figure of Christ
wearing the colobium, and resembling Coptic work, bears
the inscription " HCA HCA," while another of rock-
crystal has Coptic inscriptions. The treasure is kept

in a cupboard just
inside the door of
the cathedral ; but
in the upper sacristy
some larger objects
are preserved. Here
are a fine silver mon-
strance of 1532, a
chapel supported by
two angels, and a
chalice of silver fili-
gree ; also some fine
embroidered vest-
ments of the 16th
and 17th centuries

MORSE IN THE TREASURY, SPALATO CATHEDRAL

upon crimson
velvet.

cut

The campanile is Romanesque in style, and dates
from the early part of the thirteenth century ; it has
five stories divided by strings, and was nearly 170 ft. high
before the restoration, which has been going on ever since
1882. It was largely built of ancient material, and at
the sides were two sphinxes, one of which (headless) has
been removed into the museum, the head being built
into a house in the Ulica Ghetto ; it bears an inscription
showing that it is of the epoch of Amenhotep III. ; the
other, of granite of Syene, is still among the scaffolding

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CAMPANILE AND BAPTISTERY 299

which surrounds the campanile. Lions crouch at each
side of the stairs on the level of the top step ; and on
the side towards the church are interesting reliefs by
Mag. Otto, probably a Benedictine. They represent
SS. Doimus and Anastasius and S. Peter, and probably
formed part of an altar ; above is the Nativity, in two
panels, of a later date. A third relief shows the Annunci-
ation, and round the arch of the facade are roughly
carved struggling figures and animals, and also the
Sacrifice of Abraham. The building is generally believed
to have been commenced by Queen Mary of Naples
(1270-1323), but an inscription found in the cornice of
the first story shows that it had reached that height in
1257. The major part is due to the Spalatine Tvrdoj,
who signed a contract in 1416 to construct it, and
probably took it up to the third story. The upper
part is much later, and the octagonal pyramid was
not completed till the eighteenth century.

The baptistery is 32 ft. long and 29 ft. broad, with
pilasters at the angles. It was probably prostyle, with
a pediment in front which has gone ; under the cornice
is a rich frieze with symbols denoting a dedication to
Jupiter. The door is richly ornamented, and is nearly
20 ft. high by a little more than 8ft. broad. The build-
ing has a wagon vault of three courses, carved with cover-
ings and rosettes above a magnificent cornice. Resting
against the wall are the fine doors of the cathedral,
carved with twenty-eight subj ects in panels divided by
scroll-work ; amongst the scrolls, animals, birds, and
figures appear, and traces of colour and gilding may be
discovered, the design showing by style the influence of
Byzantine models. Here are also several early sar-
cophagi— that of Archbishop Giovanni (|68o), that of
Archbishop Lorenzo (11097), and that of the two
daughters of Bela IV. of Hungary, which used to be
over the door of the cathedral.

300 SPALATO

The panels of the cruciform font were put together
in 1527-1533 by Archbishop Andrea Cornelio, and
probably came from the cathedral. The archaeological
society, " Bihac," took it to pieces in March, 1895. It is
made of fourteen slabs, twelve external and two as walls
between the shorter arms and the internal space, all of
Greek marble with blue veins. Six of the external slabs
have early mediaeval carvings, one has Roman ornament,
a Roman inscription is on the back of another, the rest
are smooth back and front, and several have been sawn.
They are nearly the same height and thickness, but vary
in length, and were part of some chancel enclosure, altar
or sarcophagus. The carvings are probably of the
eleventh century, and are extremely curious. It is
possible that they may be work of pupils of Mag. Otto,
though the character of the patterns points rather to
the Comacines, who were certainly working a little higher
up the coast. In a passage in the Porta Aurea, above
the gate, is a little chapel made in the eighth or ninth
century, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, S. Martin,
and S. Gregory the Pope. It is said to have belonged
to the tertiaries of S. Dominic till a century or so back,
and was then used as a store. Mgr. Bulic restored it
in 1899. On the lintel of the door of entry is an in-
scription mentioning a presbyter Dominicus. There
is a " Dominicanus presbyter, capellanus " as witness
in a deed of gift of the ban Trpimir in 852, and the
screen of a chapel of Trpimir at Rizinice, near Salona, is
like that of this little chapel in style. This is the oldest
place of worship in Dalmatia, except the cathedral.
It occupies the space between the two niches above the
archway, and the pierced window-slabs of the ninth
century still remain in the little windows. The screen
has two octagonal colonnettes with a cable necking, and
rough caps with volutes, but no foliations support an
arch beneath a steep gable ; a Latin cross with grifhns

CARVING IN EARLY CHURCHES 301

crouching on each side fills the space between. Round
the arch and along the frieze runs an inscription. All
along are the simple crockets called by the Italians
" caulicoli." The slabs at the bottom are surrounded
by a running pattern bordered by zigzags. A number
of remains of this period have been found in Dalmatia,
of which a few may here be noted. The most ancient
inscription of the national dynasty is on the fragments
of the screen already referred to at Rizinice, between
Clissa and Salona, where the ban Trpimir founded a
convent of Benedictines in 860, and where the founda-
tions of church and castle were excavated in 1895-1899.
The church of S. Maria de Salona, or de Otok, lies
on an island in the Jader joined by a bridge to the
Clissa road. It was founded by Queen Helena, whose
sarcophagus was discovered among the foundations in
1898, and bears the date 976 and the name of Helena,
wife of King Mihael and mother of King Stefanus.
The church was a small basilica with nave and aisles,
and an apse in the thickness of the eastern wall, with
three piers and corresponding pilasters in the side
walls. It was about 36 ft. long, with a width of
11 ft. 6 in. the nave, and 7 ft. 4 in. the aisles. There was
one west door, a narthex of two bays, and an atrium.
Amongst fragments of ninth and tenth-century carving
a pattern closely resembling Syrian ornament was found.
At Knin, when the railway was being made, stones
with ninth-century patterns were also found. This
city was a royal residence and seat of the courts of
justice, and in the middle of the eleventh century the
bishop of Knin was made primate of Croatia and a
councillor of the king. All these carvings were prob-
ably executed by Comacines, documentary evidence
of whose presence in the country, brought from Cividale
by the Croatian ban, has been found by Mgr. Bulic.
Two sculptors only are known by inscriptions earlier

302 SPALATO

than the Benedictines, who took a leading part in the
development of mediaeval Dalmatian sculpture in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries. These are Mag.
Andrea, builder of the little church of S. Lucia, near
Besca, in Veglia, which is earlier than the twelfth cen-
tury, and Mag. Otto of the eleventh century. After
them the names of Guvina and Raduanus occur, at
Spalato and Trau. There are, however, indications
that Mag. Otto may have himself been a Benedictine ;
the Order appears to have been established in Dalmatia
before the tenth century, and to them S. Crisogono, Zara,
was due. If so, according to the rule of his Order, he
would have inherited the manual of art which every
Benedictine leaving the mother monastery to found a
new one carried with him, together with the liturgical
books.

] After the death of Diocletian in 313 Salona inherited
the palace. The imperial apartments were reserved
for illustrious guests, and the rest appears to have been
used as a cloth-factory. It is thought that it was here
that the dethroned Emperor Nepos was slain in Odo-
acer's time. Towards the end of the fifth century
Marcellinus, first king of Dalmatia, lived here for a
short time after his proclamation, when the province had
been taken from the Emperor Leo. The destruction of
Salona in 639 drove the inhabitants to take refuge in
the islands where the Avars could not follow them.
When the Croats drove these away Severus recalled
some of them, and they inhabited the palace. The bish-
opric was founded in 649 by John of Ravenna, legate
of Pope Martin I. He it was who converted the mau-
soleum into a cathedral, opening the door on the
south side which has the curious ornament round it, and
dedicating it to the Assumption, and also bringing the
relics of S. Anastasius and S. Doimus from Salona,
and placing them beneath the side altars. The beginning

HISTORY OF SPALATO 303

of the Venetian dominion was brought about by the
appeal for help against Cresimir which the Spalatines
made to Venice by advice of Basil and Constantine,
emperors of Byzantium. Pietro Orseolo received the
homage of the citizens in the cathedral, defeated
Cresimir, and made peace at Trau on the understanding
that Zara and Spalato were to be Venetian thenceforth ;
but the Croat kings assumed the title of King of Dal-
matia and obtained the assent of the Pope to their
holding the dignity till the Hungarian dynasty suc-
ceeded them. In 1401 all Dalmatia, except the Bocche
and Ragusa, became Neapolitan ; and Ladislas was
crowned by a papal emissary king of Hungary and
Dalmatia at Zara. His viceroy built a palace at
Spalato, of which remains exist between the Marina and
the Piazza deir Erbe ; to which the Venetians added
the octagonal tower for the defence of the port, so con-
spicuous from the sea. Turkish raids were frequent.
In 1570 the garrison of Clissa nearly took the city ; but
twenty-six years later the Spalatines retaliated by
surprising and massacring the garrison of Clissa in
a night attack, led by the archdeacon, who, with three
canons, was left on the field. Their leader dead, they
were not able to retain possession of the fortress.
Under Venice, Spalato was the principal place for trade
with Persia and the Indies, and many noble Venetian
families established themselves there.

The costume of the country people shows the in-
fluence of Turkish and Oriental relations, and suggests
the possibility of many figures in Old Italian pictures
being painted from Dalmatian models. The men are
generally blonde, and wear great moustaches. They
are fond of bright colours, and wear light-blue tight
cloth hose, red-and-green stockings, the usual shoes, a
broad red-leather girdle, which used to have weapons in
it, a red waistcoat, a short brown jacket embroidered

304 SPALATO

with red and ornamented at the corners with red and
white stripes, and on the head a turban of a red-brown
colour. These costumes may be seen in numbers in
the morning in the market, on the way to the station.
The women have a shawl or folded piece of stuff on
their heads, and frequently wear printed calicoes of a
startling pattern in the town, but outside have a modi-
fication of the usual Morlacca costume.

Along the quays many Italian boats are moored,
bringing cargoes of fruit, onions, and other kindred
produce, which they appear to sell retail as well as
wholesale ; and many picturesque subj ects may be
noted, to which the masts and rigging, awnings and sails,
weather-beaten paint, baskets of gleaming fruit and
other articles, cordage, gangway planks, &c, in careless
arrangement, lend attractiveness and beauty, whether
in the full glare of the midday sun, with its strong con-
trasts of light and shade, or in the early morning or late
evening, when its level rays tend to greater simplicity of
effect and greater glow of colour. On Sunday evening
the long parapet of the Marina is lined with townsfolk
taking the air, while those who desire to show off their
toilettes march up and down the Piazza dei Signori
(which appears to answer to the " Park ") for an hour
or so, after which it resumes its usual quiet condition.
On the morning of May i, the municipio was decorated
with flags, and saluted by a band which played in front
of it for a short time and then marched off, still playing.

At the end of the Marina is the Franciscan convent
dedicated to S. Felice, bishop of Epetium, whose relics
are said to be preserved in the church. It was built
by Archbishop Giovanni IV. of Spalato in 1059, ^u^ nas
been modernised, and little of an early date can be seen.
In the wall towards the cloister are several walled-up
windows, with semicircular heads cut out of a lintel, and
in the cloister itself are a few caps which appear to

SCULPTURES IN THE MUSEUM 305

be eleventh-century, but the bulk of it is fourteenth-
century in style, and that is the date of the three in-
scriptions inserted in the walls. It is a pleasant little
cloister, with a school attached to it, and the church
is crowded with the poor at service time.

The situation of the city is very fine, and the harbour
accommodation there and in the immediate neighbour-
hood led the Austrian admiralty at one time to think
of it as the principal military port. Preference was
given to Pola on account of its connection with the
main railway lines, for which the archaeologist and
artist may be thankful. The two ranges of Kozjak and
Mosor (Mons Aureus) dip down to the pass which is
guarded by the rock of Clissa. On the slopes of one lie
the ruins of Salona ; on the other, those of Epetium ; in
front is the sea, always peaceful, being sheltered by the
islands of Solta and Brazza; and beyond Marjan the
land-locked Salonitan port.

The museum accommodation is very insufficient, and,,
though several of the larger monuments are in the open
air (like the second-century monument of Pomponia
Vera near the Porta Argentea), the four museums are
crowded with the objects which excavations have
brought to light. There are an enormous number of
inscriptions, a few sculptures comparatively, a great
many architectural fragments, and an infinity of
small objects. Among the sculptures two or three
sarcophagi may be specially noted. One with the sub-
ject of Hippolytus and Phaedra, found in the narthex of
the little basilica at Salona in 1859, in a fifth-century
stratum, is a late copy of one in the Louvre. Near it
was a colossal sarcophagus of the first half of the fourth
century, with the Good Shepherd upon it, which is also
in the museum. At one end is a door watched by figures
at each side ; at the other a genius leaning on a reversed
torch stands on a pedestal beneath the arch of a little

306 SPALATO

gabled building with twisted columns. The columns
in front are also twisted ; those at the back channelled
with three flutes. The one with the Hunting of the
Caledonian Boar, which stood outside the baptistery,
where its inscription was copied by Cyriacus of
Ancona in 1436, is of the period of the Antonines, and
has been used twice. One of the ends is really fine. A
fourth, with the Passage of the Red Sea on the front,
and three panels on the back, was brought from the
Franciscan cloister. One end has two standing figures
with a Latin cross in high relief between them, and a
garland with waving ribands surrounding the labarum
above ; the other an imbrication with the spaces in relief.
The back has an Orante or Virgin in the centre, and
male figures at the ends, with S-shaped striations
between.

There is also a very beautiful torso of Venus accom-
panied by Cupid, and in one of the more distant museums
two fine fragments of a relief of undoubtedly Greek work.
There are many striking fragments of architectural
carving, among which one of the most interesting is a
balustradebearing close resemblance to the carving upon
an ambo at S. Agata, Ravenna, but constructed of many
pieces, whereas that is an adaptation of a portion of a
fluted column. There are also a good many pieces of
ninth and tenth-century work, and a large collection of
Christian lamps. The most ancient object in the col-
lection is a Corinthian vase with cover of the sixth
•century B.C., found at Salona, and ornamented with
animals and rosettes in black and violet on a yellow
ground. A new museum is to be built near the agri-
cultural college on the way to the monastery of the
Paludi, which lies on the shore on the Salona side of
Marjan, with cypresses in its grassy forecourt, and a
garden beyond the cloister.

This convent is Franciscan, but was founded bv

S. MARIA DEI PALUDI 30?

Benedictines in the eleventh century, the Franciscans
taking their place in the fifteenth century. Near the
entrance is the inscribed lid of a sarcophagus upside
down, used as a water-trough. The convent was forti-
fied by the Spalatines in 1540, of which fortification the
machicolated tower to the left of the church remains.
The church is early Renaissance in appearance, and is
dedicated to S. Maria delle Grazie. It was a favourite
place of burial for distinguished Spalatine families, and
the floor was covered with fine gravestones in relief,
mainly of the sixteenth century, worked in a hard white
Dalmatian limestone. These have now been taken up
(in 1900) and arranged along the wall of the cloister.
Many of them are beautiful in design, with borders of
early Renaissance ornament. Perhaps the most charm-
ing is that of Caterina Cvitic, but the historic interest
of that of Tommaso de Nigris of Scardona and Trau, who
died in 1527 in Spalato, is greater. There is a half-
length portrait of him in the library by Lorenzo Lotto.
Behind the high-altar in the monks' choir is an im-
portant picture by Girolamo da Santa Croce (1549).
It consists of ten panels. In the upper row the centre
is occupied by a Madonna and Child surrounded by
child angels, flanked by SS. Helena and Scolastica, be-
yond whom are SS. Catherine and Mary Magdalene.
In the centre of the lower row is S. Francis in ecstasy,
with SS. Antonio and Bernardino, flanked by S. Doimo*
(with the city of Spalato) and S. Louis of Toulouse,
beyond whom are SS. John the Baptist and Jerome. In
the gable of a much restored frame is a dove. On the
right side is a curious lintelled door with dull arabesques
emphasised by lines of drilling and pictures on either
side. One is a Carpaccio in tempera on canvas, a
" Madonna auxilium Christianorum," with the Child in a
vesica on her breast, and S. Sebastian and a bishop (S.
Doimus), one on each side. She holds her cloak out to

308 SPALATO

shelter a crowd of kneeling men on one side, and women
on the other, from the darts which God the Father is
showering from above. In the sky are cherub heads ;
two child angels hold a crown above the Virgin's head;
in the background are Venetian towers and hills. The
frame is architectural, with painted arabesques. Close
by is an inlaid black marble slab, with music, the words
of a psalm, and flowers in colour. On the other side of
the door is a Virgin and Child, with SS. John, Peter,
and Scolastica in front, and two little angels on the steps
of the throne, a tempera picture on panel, rather grey in
colour. A ghastly painted crucifix, with a great deal
of blood, stands near the door. On one of the wells in
the cloister is the date 1453 ; they are decorated with
roundels bearing various devices. The remarkable
thing which brings tourists to the Paludi is, however,
the antiphonary of Padre Bonaventura Radmilovic,
painted with vegetable colours, and finished after ten
years' labour in 1675.

Not far away, among the vineyards, is the ninth-
century church of SS. Trinita, of which the earliest
known mention is in the eleventh century. It consists
of six niches surrounding a circle of the same diameter
as the similar buildings already described at Zara. At
the springing of the arches a cornice runs right round
the building. The niches terminate in semi-domes, and
two of them are pierced with doors, one of which is of a
later date than the rest of the building. The exterior
of each niche has a rough arcading of three arches.
The springing of the dome and ornamented rosettes in
the semi-domes still remain. The courses are horizontal,
and the niches terminate outside in a slightly sloped
roof. The door has been made into a window, and the
lintel bears a bit of antique egg-and-tongue moulding.
Three Latin inscriptions of the ninth century have been
found, and various pieces of ornament, which are in the

THE ROAD TO SALONA 309

museum, also quantities of bones, testifying to its long
use as a cemetery chapel. On the way back to Spalato
the Casa Katie may be noted, in the walls of which many
antique fragments are encrusted.

There was another early church, that of S. Eufemia,
within the military hospital, which was destroyed in
1877. It had a central elliptical dome without windows
resting on four pillars ; twro more on each side made
the nave four bays long. The apse and aisle ends were
square, and the nave was vaulted with a wagon vault.

The great excursion from Spalato is to Salona, a
city large enough to quarter the entire army of the
Consul L. Cecilius Metellus in 119 B.C., and then known
as Colonia Martia Julia. The walls extend for a long
distance upon the roads to Trau and to Clissa after
crossing the Jader, and the city also stretched some
distance up the mountain slopes, the debris from which
have done so much to hide its remains. Several burial-
places have been discovered, of greater or less extent, an
amphitheatre, basilicas, a baptistery with the buildings
appertaining, city gates, and more than one circuit of
walls. Salona may be reached b}^ rail or road ; in the
latter case the aqueduct may be observed, originally con-
structed by Diocletian for his palace, and restored in
1879 by Dr. Bajamonti for the use of the Spalatines. It
is six miles long, and taps the source of the Jader. The
road descends by long curves to the valley, and enters
the village, where the Clissa road diverges, under the
pleasant shade of trees, beyond which is a marshy field,
white in spring with the giant snowdrop. Half-way
down the hill is a fountain which muleteers and pedes-
trians find most refreshing, especially if they are pressed
for time as we were on one occasion when we had an
appointment in Spalato, and, missing the train, had to
return on foot in the middle of the day. The railway
customs are rather curious. On one visit I asked for

310 SPALATO

return tickets, and, as they were not taken on leaving
the station at Salona, supposed I had them. In the
train the guard told us as we were returning that they
were not available, and that we must therefore pay a
fine of a florin ! I, of course, protested, detailed the
circumstances, and pleaded the ignorance of a foreigner ;
and on arrival at Spalato the matter was referred to a
higher official, who was graciously pleased to refund
the fine, and accept the fare for a single journey. The
traveller in Austria must not calculate on paying his
fare on the train, as he would do on the Italian light
railways.

Near the station at Salona is a little osteria, in and
about which a number of antique fragments are dis-
posed. It was stopping to have some wine here that
caused us to miss our train. There were some eight
or ten children playing beneath the pergola, and I found
by experience how small a sum may suffice to make a
human being happy, since the distribution of three
halfpence in heller, the small copper coin which is the
basis of calculation, delighted them all ! As we left the
station on arriving we saw a crowd of peasants kneeling
at the cross roads, with three banners, a big crucifix, a
chandelier with three candles, and other objects rising
above their bent heads. The priest in the centre was
blessing the fields, sprinkling holy water in all directions,
whilst prayers and responses went up from the kneeling
people, the smoke from the censers which the acolytes
were slowly swinging hanging round the group like a
cloud. Afterwards they came down the road in pro-
cession. The priest held a little silver crucifix on a
base ; near him were the acolytes bearing their various
utensils, and a choir of male singers. The men and
boys went first, in two rows down the sides of the road,
just as we had often seen in Italy. The women and
girls followed.

SALONA 311

The oldest part of the city is towards the Clissa
road, for it spread westwards. The Basilica Urbana is
quite close to the wall, and only a little farther south are
the Porta Suburbia and the Porta Caesarea. Of the
latter the arches no longer exist, but the ruts in the
stone show the carriage-way, flanked by two footways.
The Basilica Urbana, with its accompanying buildings,
has been fully excavated. It was used for religious
purposes till its restoration in the ninth century, for
Salona was not entirely abandoned after its destruc-
tion in 639. The soil removed showed evident traces
of its destruction by burning. It consisted of nave and
aisles with a western narthex, and buildings both to the
north and to the south. The nave appears to have had
twelve columns on either side, with proj ecting piers from
the narthex and from the eastern wall. There was one
apse with an ambulatory surrounding it, as in the
Lycaonian buildings recently described by Miss Low-
thian Bell. The foundations of the chancel were
found, and of an enclosure which reached to the second
column on the right. In the north aisle wall were two
doors, one towards the baptistery, the other to the
catechumens' room, and all along the wall there was a
seat. The prothesis is an irregular space to the north of
the apse, entered by a door at the end of the aisle, with
a short column in the middle, probably the central
column of a table. For ritual reasons this arrange-
ment (the diakonikon communicating directly with the
presbytery, while the prothesis does not) is usual in the
Greek Church. The nave appears to have been flagged,
but the aisles were covered with a mosaic pavement,
now more or less damaged. Fragments of glass were
found, and an inscription of the fourth or fifth century
discovered in the cemetery, " Pasc[asi]o vi^iano,"
shows that glassmaking was a Salonitan industry. Be-
neath the presbytery remains of an earlier building were

312 SPALATO

discovered with a pagan mosaic of the second or third
century, representing the poetess Sappho and the nine
muses. The ambulatory is also floored with mosaic,
in which is this inscription :

NOVA POST VETERA

COEPIT SYNFERIUS

ESYCHIUS CJUS NEPOS

CUM CLERO ET POPULO FECIT

HAEC MUNERA

DOMUS 5^i GRATA

TENE.

The two names here recorded are those of bishops
of the end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth
centuries, judging from the palaeography of other in-
scriptions. Esychius was bishop, 406-426. The bap-
tistery is accessible by steps both from the basilica and
the narthex. Attached to it is the consignatorium, as
at Parenzo. This retains its mosaic pavement, with
a design of stags drinking at a vase, and the text
" Sicut cervus," &c. It is kept covered with pebbles to
preserve it. The baptistery itself is octagonal exter-
nally and circular internally; with niches and several
doors. It appears to have had six columns (fragments
of three of cipollino remain) and grey stone bases. The
font is somewhat cruciform in shape, about 3 ft. deep,
and with a little step at one end. The slabs at the
bottom and the conduit for the water still remain. North
of this is the house of the Director of the Excavations,
with a pergola composed of fragments from the cam-
panile, &c, among which is a cap the exact counterpart
of one in the cathedral at Veglia.

North-west of the house is the Christian cemetery,
a bewildering mass of sarcophagi and foundations of
several epochs, from among which many objects have
been taken to the museum. All the sarcophagi had

CHRISTIAN CEMETERIES AT SALONA 313

been broken into and plundered; with a single exception,
that of a little Greek girl who still had the earrings
in her ears. Apparently apses were built round the
martyrs' tombs, pointing in all directions, and many
burials took place close to them. When the Goths de-
stroyed the city they plundered the tombs ; and when the
Christians returned they levelled the ground, and built
another basilica properly orientated; and here, also,
burials took place. The Avars descended upon this and
destroyed it, and the soil washed down from the hills
covered much of it to the depth of 15 ft. Fragments
found of the eighth and ninth centuries, however, show
that the place was not abandoned ; the theatre was only
demolished at the end of the tenth century to build
S. Michele, and the amphitheatre lasted till the close of
the thirteenth. Upon the extinction of the Croatian
dynasty in 11 02, Salona rapidly declined, and when the
Turks appeared in the sixteenth century it became a
neglected ruin.

At Marusinac, some distance to the north of the
station and the amphitheatre, is another basilica, dedi-
cated to S. Anastasius, and a Christian cemetery. The
children are on the look-out for chance visitors, and
ready to point out the road, and sell copper coins and
tesserae of mosaic at a price which lowers remarkably
as the basilica is approached. It is to be feared that
they come from the great mosaic, which is necessarily
unguarded. The basilica consists of nave and aisles,
separated apparently by six columns on each side,
with a single apse, which seems to have had external
buttresses, but there is no trace of the usual internal
bench. The total length approaches 150 ft., the nave
is 39 ft. wide, the left aisle about 14 ft., and the right
17 ft. 6 in. The prothesis and diakonikon are square,
and a long schola cantorum forms a continuation to the
presbytery westward, though it is less in width. The

3H SPALATO

westward angles of the aisles also have rectangular
rooms walled off. The whole surface was covered with
mosaic, of which a great deal is still preserved, con-
sisting of geometrical pattern work for the most part,
without inscriptions, though there is one panel showing
a vase with scrolls issuing from it. A large drawing to
scale has been made of it, which is in the communal
palace. It took a full year's labour to complete. The
basilica was built between 425 and 443, but there was
a villa there previously, of which considerable remains
were discovered in 1890, at the same time that the
first sarcophagi came to light.

In the modern chapel of S. Caius, pope and martyr,
the side of an antique sarcophagus serves as altar-
frontal. It is sculptured with the deeds of Hercules.
The subjects are the Killing of the Dragon of the Hes-
perides (which the peasantry mistake for the Garden
of Eden), Alcestis being brought back from Hades, and
the Binding of Cerberus. The water which filtered into
the sarcophagus believed to be the tomb of S. Caius
was credited with the same miraculous powers as the
" Manna " of S. Nicola at Bari. .

A path skirts the wall of Salona to the Porta Andetria
upon the Clissa road, which climbs the hillside in well-
graded curves. To the north the ridge of Kozjak rises
to the height of 2,000 ft. ; across the gap up which the
Roman Via Gabiniana ran, the course of which the
modern road follows, beyond Clissa, the still higher
crests of Mosor frown. The isolated rock on which the
fortress stands appears to have been an outwork of
Salona in Roman times, and some assume that it was
Andetrium, which others place farther off ; the Byzan-
tines called it Clausura. It is the key between Sinj and
Spalato, its possession effectually closing the pass to an
enemy. The Avars took it in 640 by stratagem, dis-
guising themselves as Romans. It was Turkish from

A MORLACCO FAMILY, BETWEEN SALONA AND CLISSA

To face page 314

CLISSA 315

1537 till 1669, except for a short period, and one of
the attempts of the Spalatines to possess themselves
of it has been referred to. The fort has three terraces,
and retains a characteristic building, a mosque of
Turkish times, now used as an ammunition store.
Round arches which sustain the dome spring from
stalactite-shaped brackets. There is also a Venetian
wall-fountain, but considerable additions have been
made to the buildings in modern times by the Austrian
military authorities, who have held the place since
1813 ; and permission from the command at Spalato is-
necessary to enter the fort. To the south-east are the
ruins of the Roman camp.

XXII

THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF ISLANDS

The chain of islands which forms a natural break-
water to the coast of Dalmatia is broken into two
groups by the Punta Planka, the ancient Promontorium
Syrtis, south of Sebenico. To the northern group be-
long Veglia, Cherso, Ossero, Arbe, Pago, and a number
of smaller and less important islands, including Ugljan,
opposite Zara, and Pasman, a little farther south. Of
these the first four have been described at length, and
the others are mentioned briefly in the chapter dealing
with Zara and its surroundings. The southern group
lies south of the harbour of Spalato, and includes
Solta, Brazza, Lesina, Curzola, Meleda, the more distant
Lissa, Busi, and Lagosta, and a few small islands which
belonged to the Republic of Ragusa. The interest of
these varies a good deal, some containing much to de-
light the traveller, while others are scarcely worth a
visit. Most of them have historical memories reaching
from the dawn of history to times which are within the
memory of many now living, and some of them are
remarkable for their geological formation or luxuriant
Southern vegetation. The planning of a tour among
them requires the most careful comparison of the time-
tables of the various shipping companies, and the
scheme, once decided on, must be strictly adhered to
under pain of the risk of being stranded in some little
visited place for three or four days without any of the

316

SOLTA AND BRAZZA 317

comforts which the average traveller now expects to
find everywhere ; for the weather cannot be relied on
for twenty-four hours together in the seasons when
travellers are most numerous, the sea frequently rising
under an unfavourable wind so rapidly as to make
escape by a fishing-boat a doubtful experiment.

The direct boats, on leaving Spalato, steer between
Solta and Brazza, and round the point of Lesina, pro-
ceeding by the Canals of Curzola and Meleda towards
Gravosa ; and we cannot do better than visit the islands
in much the same order.

Solta is the ancient Olinthia, celebrated for its
honey ; Olinthian honey was held to be superior to all
other, except that of Hymettus. The bees are of a
special kind, which work hard, and go out in wind and
slight rain ; but the excellence of the honey was pro-
bably due to the rosemary blossoms, on which they
feed by preference, only visiting other flowers when
these have been completery rifled. Of late years the
inhabitants have cleared a great part of the land in
order to cultivate vines or chrysanthemum, so the
yield of honey is much reduced. Remains of mosaic
pavements found here and there show the sites of
Roman villas.

Brazza is the largest of the Dalmatian islands, the
most populous, and the richest in wine and oil. The
stone for Diocletian's palace came mainly from this
island ; and Professor Bulic has found abandoned frag-
ments partially worked in the quarries, as well as in-
scriptions. The greater part of the stone with which
Salona was built also came from Brazza. Its history
commences with the destruction of Salona and Epetium
in the seventh century, much of the population taking
refuge in the island, though it is believed that Greeks
inhabited it before the Romans. The legend that
S. Helena, the mother of Constantine, was born here

318 THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF ISLANDS

(though most historians regard her as English) pro-
bably arose from the name of Brettanide, which is said
to have been the Greek name for the island, though
Brattia is also met with. The most ancient document
preserved is a privilege of 1077, given to the nobles by
Demetrius Zvonimir ; but the island belonged by turns
to Byzantium, Venice, the Ostrogoth, Frank, Narentan,
and Hungarian, becoming finally Venetian in 1420,
except for the disturbed period which closed in 1815 ;
since then it has been Austrian. In a convent of
Dominicans at Bol, on the south coast, is a Gothic
church, with a restored altar-piece representing the
Marriage of S. Catherine, with SS. Mary Magdalene,
Paul, and Dominic as witnesses. An entry in the
convent register attests the authorship — " to Master
Jacomo Tintoretto, painter, a further payment of
200 ducats for the high-altar piece.' ' In the convent is
a collection of coins and a Lombard lintel with ninth-
century interlacings ; and on the Casa Nisiteo a knocker
resembling that at Curzola — a female figure with an
anchor in the middle, a lion on each side with head
turned up, a shell below and a shield with arms above,
charged with a sun and dolphin one above the other ;
a crowned lion and an eagle as supporters.

In a hut at Birce, near Serip, Andrea, son of Salo-
mon the exiled king of Hungary, lived as a shepherd
and died.

Lesina was once a Venetian arsenal and station of
the fleet. The vegetation is sub-tropical. Rosemary
fills the air with its aromatic scent, oleanders, lemons,
lofty palms, carob and bay trees are continually met
with, and aloes are often used for hedges. It was the
island Pharos of the Greeks, a colony from the ^Egean
Paros, founded in 385 B.C., and a free republic. Coins
which have been found are similar to the most ancient
ones of Greece and Asia Minor, and the remains of

LESINA

319

walls appear to be Pelasgic. From 221 B.C. it belonged

to the Roman province of Dalmatia, and shared the

fate of its neighbour Brazza. The Illyrian pirates

mastered it, and under their lordship the celebrated

Demetrios was born, who was like a condottiere of

the Middle Ages and

Renaissance, and whose

treachery led to the

destruction of the Greek

city. Many Christian

martyrs were buried

here, and it became

known as " the Holy."

The population is Slav,

and the Greek name

"Pharia" is preserved

to some extent in the

Slav name " Hvar."

It is the longest of

the Dalmatian islands,

being 70 kilometres

long by 10 broad.

The town of Lesina
lies on the south-west
coast, and still retains a
great part of its crenel-
lated walls. It is de-
cayed, and there are
many ruined palaces of
the Venetian period,
some of which are fine.
The piazza is the largest in Dalmatia, and beyond it the
houses form a semicircle interspersed with gardens. On
the east is the cathedral, Lombardesque in style ; on the
south a large building, the so-called Venetian arsenal.
The present ground floor, with broad-arched door

PORTA MAGGIORE, LESINA

320 THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF ISLANDS

opening on the water, was arranged to house the galleys
belonging to the Republic, and was used till 1776,
when the arsenal was transferred to Curzola. The
upper floor, divided into two, was the theatre and
communal hall. The Loggia of Sanmichele is to the
north, close to the remains of the palace of the count.
It has seven rather narrow arches on piers with columns,
and a whole order attached in front, a balustrade be-
tween the pedestals and above the frieze, with obelisks
supported on balls as crowning features. The door is
in the centre ; above it a panel with the lion of S. Mark
replaces the balusters. It is now the hall of a sana-
torium which has been erected behind it, thus destroy-
ing two of the towers of the palace of the count, and
spoiling a very picturesque composition. The fC Fon-
dachi" are used for military purposes; other Gothic
palaces remain along the side of the piazza. Above
the town is Fort Spagnuolo, which probably occupies
the site of an older castle besieged by the Hungarians
and their allies in 1358 ; an inscription states that the
present building is due to the Spaniards, and was
built in 155 1 under Charles V., when he was allied to
Venice against the Turks. Higher still to the east is
Fort S. Nicolo, constructed after the Russian attack
in 1807.

The cathedral is not remarkable for its architecture.
The facade has a semicircular termination, quadrants
above the aisles, and an early Renaissance doorway.
The stalls are carved and pierced like those at Arbe
and Zara, but have lost the tops and the carved divi-
sions. At each side is an ambo of stone supported on
four columns, but with an octagonal body above,
arcaded, with shafts at the angles. The arches are all
round, but the change in the plan produces a curious
pointed appearance in perspective in the lower arcade.
On the high-altar is a picture by the younger Palma,.

THE CATHEDRAL, LES1NA 321

a Madonna and the Child in the clouds, with S. Stephen
vested as pope below, and SS. Jerome and Carlo
Borromeo. There is also a more ancient picture by
Antonio Gradinelli, a dead Christ supported by angels.
Near the west end is a carved reredos of Venetian-
Gothic style ; S. Luke in the centre with his ox, and S.
John the Baptist are recognisable among the well-carved
figures of saints beneath pointed arches with shell-
heads to the niches. Two Venetian lions have closed
books with the date 1475. The sacristy contains some
fine embroidered vestments and several interesting
pieces of metal-work — a ciborium of the fifteenth
century of silver, with a pyramidal roof, a large silver
chalice of Venetian late fifteenth-century work in
repousse, a monstrance with round upper part and an
angel with a scroll and the inscription " O Salutaris,"
&c, decorated with translucent enamel.

There is also a very curious sixteenth-century
crozier of gilded copper enriched with silver bands and
rosettes, which repeats and enlarges on the idea of
Bishop Valaresso's crozier at Zara. Inside the crook
(which is a complete circle) is the Coronation of the
Virgin, above whose head is a dove, and beneath her
feet the head of the serpent, which terminates it. She
is crowned by a half-figure emerging from a flower,
wearing the kind of high mitre which is frequently
given to God the Father ; behind her is a similar half-
figure of Moses bearing a scroll, and with his shoes on
the ground before him. On the outside are busts of
Christ and six Apostles, right and left in profile, also
springing from flowers, all with nimbi ; lower down
are the twelve prophets, holding labels with their
names, and set close one above the other. At the top
of the stem are six figures, four Evangelists, S. John the
Baptist, and Elijah. Below are twelve little busts of
patriarchs named on labels. The knop has twisted

322 THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF ISLANDS

colonnettes at the angles, with swags hanging from the
lower parts, and half-length figures above a canopy
with one arch and two half-arches on each face ; on
the flat surfaces between are miscellaneous saints ;
below are three bishops and three other saints, and
below them are representations of the six days of
creation ; the words " Opvs* Presbyterr Pavli* Silvii*
Tivnio* lavs* Deo " can be deciphered. The stem is
sheathed with silver plates with stamped patterns.

The ruined church of S. Marco, now undergoing re-
storation, has a fine campanile, rather dilapidated, and
sepulchral slabs of members of patrician families, and
the Franciscan convent, S. Maria delle Grazie, has a
similar campanile, both of which were probably rebuilt
after the Turkish raid of 1571 under Uluz-Ali, the
Calabrian renegade. The door in the western facade of
this church resembles that of the cathedral at Ossero,
and appears to belong to the original building of 1471.
Within it are three interesting altar-pieces by Fran-
cesco da Santa Croce ; one above the high-altar has
two rows of panels with figures of the Madonna, SS.
Helena, Lucy, Clara, Elizabeth, Stephen, Peter, Francis,
Anthony, Bernardino of Siena, and Bonaventura ; an-
other shows seven prophets ; and a third has the Ma-
donna in the centre, with three little angels below, and
S. Jerome on the left, and S. John on the right. The
church also contains a S. Francis by Jacopo Palma, and
a S. Diego and S. Francesco di Paola by Jacopo Bas-
sano, restored. The principal treasure of the convent,
however, is the great Last Supper by Matteo Rosselli,
a very impressive picture, which fills the end wall of
the refectory above the panelling, and contains his own
portrait (1578-1650). The table at which the Apostles
are seated is in the form of a horseshoe, with Judas on
the near side. The story goes that Rosselli went to
Ragusa to deliver some paintings commissioned from

LES1NA AND CURZOLA 323

him, and on his way back fell ill, and was obliged to
land at Lesina, where the Franciscans took care of
him and nursed him back to health ; in gratitude he
painted this picture for them. The great cypress,
which spreads almost like an oak, he may have sat
under during his convalescence.

The other towns are Cittavecchia, Verbosca, and
Gelsa. The first is the new Pharos, founded at the
end of the third century B.C., and flourishing during the
Roman period. It lies at the bottom of an inlet six
miles long, and is a flourishing modern town with
little antiquity visible. The campanile of S. Stefano,
which appears to be of the fourteenth century, is on
ancient foundations, and there are traces of Cyclopean
walls here and there. In Verbosca is a fortified church
with bastions, S. Lorenzo, which contains the frag-
ments of a Titianesque painting, ascribed to the master
on the strength of an entry in the archives of a pay-
ment of 1,000 ducats to the Master Titiano Vecelli.
It is now in three portions, and shows S. Laurence with
angels and the Virgin above, S. Roch, and S. Augustine.
In another church, S. Maria, is a Birth of the Virgin,
ascribed to Paolo Veronese. At Gelsa the church is
also fortified, a memorial of the time when protection
against Turkish raids was necessary.

Curzola lies due south of Lesina, separated from the
long peninsula of Sabbioncello on the mainland by
quite a narrow channel. It is the Corcyra Nigra or
Melaina of antiquity, so called from its luxuriant pine
forests, little of which now remain. Various origins
are attributed to the settlement ; one of them is com-
memorated in the inscription on the Porta Marina :
" Hie Antenoridae Corcyrae prima Melanae fundamenta
locant." The early Greek geographers include it in the
territory of Narenta or Liburnia. From Augustus to
Heraclius (642 a.d.) it was Roman or Byzantine, and

324 THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF ISLANDS

from that date till 998 Narentine. From the victory
of Orseolo II. till 11 00 it was Venetian, when the
Genoese possessed it for twenty-eight years. In 1128
the Venetians, under Popone Zorzi, took it again, and
it remained Venetian on the whole till 1357 ; from that
time till 141 8 it was sometimes Hungarian, sometimes
Genoese, Bosnian, or Ragusan. Two years later it
finally gave itself to Venice, with which it was con-
nected till the Napoleonic wars. The English occupied
it from 1813-1815. It has suffered from raids ; and the
attack by Uluz-Ali after he had sacked Lesina is notice-
able for the brave conduct of the women. The com-
mandant of the island and fortress, Antonio Balbi,
and a great many of the well-to-do inhabitants fled
without fighting. The women and boys put on their
uniforms and manned the walls, making the Turks
think that the place was well garrisoned and too strong
to be taken quickly with the force at their disposal.
In one of the naval battles with the Genoese off the
island, Marco Polo (who has been claimed as a Curzolan)
and Andrea Dandolo were taken prisoners. Dandolo
dashed his brains out against the .side of the galley ;
but Marco Polo occupied his four years of captivity
in writing his travels, and, according to legend, earned
his freedom by the pleasure which his work gave to the
Genoese.

The statute is the oldest in Dalmatia (1214), and is
noticeable for its provisions against the slave trade,
which are among the earliest in history. A curious
survival of mediaeval festivity still exists in the
" Moresca," a kind of Pyrrhic dance, danced on national
festas, which is a reminiscence of the days of Algerian
piracy. There are twenty-four dancers, and the leaders,
the standard-bearer, and the " bula," who is the spouse
of the Moorish king. The performers are divided into
two bands, one representing Christians (in Spanish

THE "MORESCA" 325

costume), and the other Moors, from which the name
comes. The whites, led by the king of Spain, conquer
in the combat, and the " bula " is taken and freed amid
general rejoicing. At the beginning and end, the
Christians declaim a kind of prologue or introduction
in accordance with the object of the festa, and a salu-
tation and thanks to those assisting at the end. The
costumes are rich, each dancer carries sword and
dagger, and the performances (which are enthusi-
astically received) take place in the open air upon a
raised platform. In one or two places there are also
survivals of mediaeval mystery-plays.

The town is on an oval peninsula on the north-east
coast, united to the mass of the island by a low isthmus.
The main street runs along the ridge from the land
gate to the cathedral piazza. From the sea the walls
appear almost perfect, but there is a wide quay all
round the town, and the houses stretch a long way
along the shore. There is not a street within the walls
through which a vehicle could pass, all the thorough-
fares (which are mainly alleys and staircases) rising
steeply to the cathedral. The buildings remain much
as when the Morosini and Faliero ruled, but compara-
tively few of the three hundred or so of houses within the
walls are inhabited ; most of the ruined palaces are of
the period of the Ducal Palace, Venice, and some of
them have been architecturally remarkable. The walls
and towers are in the main of 1420, but were strength-
ened by the Venetians. The towers which remain are
the Merlata Barbarigo of 1485, Merlata Tiepolo of
about the same date, Merlata dell' Aspello, erected as
a defence against the Turks in 1570, the gate-tower
on the Piazzetta of 1649, and the Gothic Torre Lom-
bardo of 1448, near the land gate. The walls can be
walked round in a quarter of an hour, and are domi-
nated by the Fort S. Biagio, erected by the English.

326 THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF ISLANDS

The cathedral has a fine west doorway with twisted
and knotted colonnettes and a pointed arch with tracery
in the tympanum, and a modern figure of a bishop in

front of it. Enormous brackets supporting couchant
lions rest upon the knotted columns, with curious
figures of Adam and Eve on their lower faces. A

THE CATHEDRAL, CURZOLA 327

circular hood mould, with ogee finial, springs from
them. In the gable is a traceried rose, above which is
an elaborate cornice with beasts' heads projecting at
the angles, shell niches, and floral finial, and at the
meeting-point of the ramps a bust of an elderly woman
in the costume of the fourteenth century, with hair
in curls at each side of the face, a jewelled circlet,
pleated gown with tightly fitting sleeves slashed and
embroidered, and a border round the neck above a
laced under-garment. There are two other doors at
the ends of the aisles. The tower appears to have
been added above the north aisle about 1463 ; it
finishes with a shafted parapet and two open octagons
with domical roofs, one above the other. Along the
aisle roof a carved cornice runs, and above the trefoiled
pointed clerestory windows is an arched corbelled
cornice. The nave and aisles terminate in semicircular
apses. The nave and choir together are of five bays,
with a pointed arcade on monolithic pillars. The aisles
are cross- vaulted without ribs, but with pointed arches
between the bays. The roof of the nave is of wood. The
triforium is of two round arches to each bay, with
short coupled columns, now built up, and with wooden
figures of the Apostles set in each arch. The tower
occupies one bay of the north aisle, and encroaches on
the next arch. Four of the caps have the symbols of
the Evangelists ; those of the columns of the south
aisle bear flowing late Gothic foliage resembling two at
Sebenico, and the doorway illustrated at Trau ; those of
the north arcade are of the seventeenth century. A
fourth aisle was added to the north in 1532 as a burial
chapel. The ciborium has three octagonal stages
pierced with quatrefoils, above long architrave blocks,
the carving of all the lower part being Renaissance in
style. The interior of the church was sadly modernised
in 1804, but the curious sacristy door still remains. It

328 THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF ISLANDS

has a tympanum with S. Michael weighing souls and
trampling on the Devil, and, below the lintel, two
brackets with musicians, the hood mould running up in
ogee-shape to a finial. The high-altar-piece is a Tin-
toretto— S. Mark vested as a bishop and blessing, with
a lion at his feet between SS. Bartholomew and Jerome,
who are nearer the spectator. On a side altar is a
picture representing the Trinity, by Giacomo da Ponte
(1510-1592). The treasury possesses some good em-
broideries and two or three chalices, one of which, with
a half-figure of Christ in the tomb, is set before the
baldacchino on Good Friday, to show symbolically that
the Body of Christ is in the Sacrament.

On the way to the church of Ognissanti the Palazzo
Arneri is passed ; it has a fine knocker in the manner
of John of Bologna — Neptune standing and controlling
two lions, a design of which there are examples in
Padua and elsewhere. The church of All Saints was
built in 1303. It has been modernised, but still retains
a ciborium with quatrefoil piercings and angle pin-
nacles, bearing much resemblance to that in the cathe-
dral. A stair leads to a Greek church, in which are
several painted wood crucifixes and Byzantine pictures.

Some forty minutes away, on a small island to the
east, is the Franciscan convent, La Badia, a building of
the fifteenth century for the most part, containing a
rather pretty cloister of white marble erected in 1477.
The arches are stilted, pointed, and trefoiled, arranged
in groups of three, with wider slightly segmental open-
ings with cuspings for entrances. The spandrils are
filled with Gothic leafage, the bases and caps to the
columns are early Renaissance, and the frieze is quite
plain, with a dentilled cornice. The church is not in-
teresting architecturally ; the western f acade is imitated
from the cathedral, but it contains a crucifix brought
from Bosnia by refugees after the battle of Kossovo.

LISSA 329

The plague of 1558 smote Curzola very heavily, and
as years went by it sank lower and lower. The con-
venience of the neighbouring pine-woods, the two ports
between which the town lies, and the existence of
Porto Pedocchio caused the Venetians to move their
arsenal hither from Lesina in 1776 ; and during the
last century it has recovered to some extent, but the
population remains poor.

The island of Lissa lies to the north-east of Curzola,
much farther away from the mainland. The climate is
very mild ; palms, cactus, aloes, and myrtle flourish ; and
a wine known as Opollo is as much sought after as that
made from Lissan grape-juice, praised in antiquity by
Agathar chides. It is cut into by two large bays, to the
west the Valle di Comisa, and to the north-east the
harbour of Lissa. There are some small remains of
antiquity. The foundations of the Roman theatre are
partly in the sea, and other Roman ruins are round
about the harbour, though the ancient Issa occupied
the site of Gradina, 300 ft. above the sea. One statue
at least which was found here has been taken to Vienna.
Lago says that under the building of the Blessed
Virgin " delle Graticelle " there are caverns said to
contain the graves of Diomede and his companions.
Apollonius of Rhodes says that the original colonists
came from Issa in Lesbos, and were Pelasgic Liburnians ;
but Polybius tells of a Greek colonisation in 392 B.C.
under Dionysios the Elder, of Syracuse. It is certain,
from gems and inscriptions found, that a free state
existed here about 340 B.C. It was through Issa seek-
ing protection from Rome that the commencement of
the conquest of Illyria sprang. Their being able to
help the Romans with twenty ships in their war with
Philip of Macedon, and their founding such cities as
Tragurium and Epetium show their importance in
antiquity. The Goths of Ravenna destroyed the town

330 THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF ISLANDS

in 535 a.d., on their way to Salona. It was destroyed
a second time by the Narentans, and a third time, in
1483, by the Aragonese. The great battle for which
Lissa is celebrated took place on March 13, 181 1, when
the French were beaten by the English, who destroyed
all their ships but three, the commander Dubourdieu
being killed, after which Lissa was made a kind of
Adriatic Malta. The Austrians strengthened the forti-
fications of the English, making it an arsenal, and in
1866 Tegethoff beat the Italian fleet here. Some
interest attaches to the fortifications, monuments,
and graveyards of the island, on account of the British
occupation. The monument recording the English
victory is in the English cemetery ; in the other is a
memorial to those who died in the I talo- Austrian fight.
At Busi, a few miles away, is a blue grotto, discovered
in 1884, claimed to be even more remarkable than the
celebrated grotto at Capri.

Lagosta lies due south of Curzola. It belonged to
Ragusa, and the islanders are still very proud of the
connection. Uros I. (the Great) gave it to Ragusa in
the second half of the thirteenth century. In the
cathedral is a Titian signed on the back.

Meleda is east of Lagosta, and south of Sabbioncello.
It also belonged to Ragusa, given to the Republic by
a Servian prince in the twelfth century. It has his-
torical memories of Julius Caesar, Octavian, Septimius
Severus, and Caracalla, and was used in antiquity as a
place of banishment, like Bua opposite Trau. In the
town of Porto Palazzo ruins of the palace built by the
Cilician Agesilaus of Anazarba, governor of Cilicia
under Nero, and sent here by Septimius Severus, still
exist. In the ninth century the island was part of the
Narentan dominions. The building, formerly a con-
vent, traditionally said to have been founded before
1000 on the little island of S. Maria del Lago, is like a

S. MARIA DEL BISCIONE, MEZZO 331

mediaeval castle with battlemented walls and a tower.
The cloister is picturesque with ancient date-palms,
and there are several monuments in the church. The
island is prettily situated near the shore of the Lago
Grande, one of two lagoons reached by a pleasant road
from Porto Palazzo.

Nearer to Gravosa is Mezzo, the ancient Delaphodia,
which also belonged to Ragusa. The mother church is
away from the town, and is known as S. Maria del
Biscione, a building of the fifteenth century. It con-
tains an altar-piece with gilt arabesques on a blue
ground, and large painted and gilt wooden figures of
Apostles and the subject of the Assumption. A pre-
della contains carvings of the Last Supper and the
Washing of the Disciples' Feet. It was made in the
seventeenth century, though the style is earlier. There
are also two pictures — a Madonna and Saints, of the
earlier Venetian school, and an enthroned Madonna
and Child with four panels of saints at the sides, both
restored. In the sacristy are a Venetian lavabo, some
embroideries, and a fine fifteenth-century processional
cross. An iron grille round a side altar bears the
Visconti arms, which are also those of Mezzo. The
"biscione" (serpent) in these arms gives its name
to the bay, and so to the church. The church of the
deserted Franciscan convent is now used as the parish
church. It is a building of the latter part of the
fifteenth century, and contains some fine carved stalls
of the usual type, and a fine altar-piece by Nicolaus
Raguseus, 9 ft. high, and with an arched top. God the
Father is enthroned above, surrounded by angels with
the instruments of the Passion. The five panels in
the upper row show the Angel of the Annunciation,
S. Blaise, Christ with the Cross, and half-figures of S.
Anthony and the Virgin. The centre subject is rather
broader. Below it is a later painted wood carving of

332 THE SOUTHERN GROUP OF ISLANDS

the Madonna and Child. The panels at the sides have
figures of SS. Roch and John the Baptist, Francis and
Catherine. The frame is carved and painted blue, and
gilded. There is another picture by the same artist in
S. Nicholas, which was the Dominican church — an
Annunciation, dated March 16, 1513, with a predella
of five subjects, a praying Dominican, a Nativity of
Christ, a galley in the harbour of Mezzo, the Adoration
of the Magi, and the entrance of the Dominicans into
the cloister. A good campanile still remains, though
the cloister is ruined. There are several chapels in the
place, also roofless and in ruins, and two ruined castles.

A Captain Pracat, who left 200,000 ducats to the
Republic of Ragusa, and who was honoured with a
half-length figure set up in the court of the Rector's
Palace in 1638, was a native of Mezzo. A towel given
him by the Emperor Charles V. is preserved at Mezzo,
together with some church plate of unusual design.
The chalice is a mixture of late Gothic and early
Renaissance in character, with two little angels, now
wingless, holding to its edge, and treading with one
foot on the knop, thus forming handles. It is so large
as to recall the ancient ministerial chalices. Medal-
lions with the Evangelists' symbols ornament the bowl,
with scroll-work between ; the knop is covered with
similar ornament, and on the foot is a full-length figure
of S. Blaise. An ostensory has the same detail of the
flying angels, and there is also a large paten with Christ
as the Man of Sorrows on a blue enamel ground.

The island of Lacroma is beyond Ragusa, and can be
easily visited from that place. It is the last Austrian
island of any importance, and will be described in the
next chapter.

XXIII

RAGUSA

Ragusa is one of the most charming spots in Dalmatia,
and one can quite understand the action of the in-
habitants who refused to leave it notwithstanding the
ruin wrought by the earthquake of 1667, when it was
proposed to move the community to a safer situation.
The grey town upon its rocky seat, lighted by the
brilliant sun, contrasts with the blue of the sea and
the green of the luxuriant vegetation (much of it
tropical), amidst which villas nestle picturesquely, and
from the cliffs on either side at morning and evening
the glow of the sun's level rays, or the characteristic
silhouettes of town and rock are equally effective,
according to the position of the spectator. But the
sea, which is generally calm and blue, can be lashed to
fury when scirocco blows, so strongly sometimes that it
is difficult to keep one's feet, and, though storms do
not usually last many days, the spray has been known
to fly right over Fort S. Lorenzo, situated on an
isolated rock 100 ft. above the water.

Large steamers cannot enter the little harbour, so
Gravosa, on the estuary of the Ombla, a mile or so
away, serves as the usual port. It is sheltered by the
rocky island of Daxa, and affords another of those fine
harbours with which Dalmatia is so well provided.
On one of our visits to Ragusa we stayed at the Hotel
Petka at Gravosa, and in front of the windows a flotilla

333

334 RAGUSA

of torpedo-boats lay at anchor with steam up. It was
interesting to see the men doing everything to word of
command. In the morning they got up at a signal ;
drew up water to a signal, washed themselves and
then the boats, prepared meals, &c, &c, all in public
view, for there was very little deck and apparently no
room below at all. In the hotel we were interested by
some tame swallows, which flew about the hall and
came into the restaurant ; but a detestable mechanical
piano, operated by an electrical motor on the penny-in-
the-slot plan, which was a source of great pleasure to
some Slav visitors, interfered a good deal with our
comfort. I am sorry to say that when I had time to
look over the account for the rooms (for we were
hurried in leaving) I found that we had been charged
for a day more than we had been there, the only in-
stance of such a thing which we experienced in our
journeys up and down the coast. Some of the houses
along the road by the water have delightful gardens,
and piles of fruit and vegetables made fascinating
colour compositions by the waterside, whilst the vivid
colour of some of the strange costumes, such as that of
the quaint old Herzegovinian charcoal porter, con-
trasted well with the more ordinary clothes of officials
and traders. Large numbers of Herzegovinian emi-
grants take boat at Gravosa ; and I remember one day,
when Ragusa was full of them and their friends and
every vehicle crowded between that place and Gravosa,
what a strange sight the pier presented, so thickly
packed with people that one wondered none were
pushed off. The variety of colour and picturesqueness
of costume and type among the men and women was
interesting, and it was touching to think of the sunder-
ing of friends and relations, and the grief at parting
which many of them showed in their strongly marked
countenances. From Gravosa the source of the Ombla

HERZEGOVINIAN CHARCOAL PORTER, GRAVOSA

To face page 334

CANNOSA AND STAGNO 335

is easily visited, a strange river springing full-grown
from beneath a cliff but a few miles from the sea. The
Greeks called it Arione, the Latins Umbla, and it is
believed to be the same river as the Trebisnizza, which
becomes subterranean some two and a half hours'
journey away in the Herzegovina. Its depth is un-
known, as the actual source at the foot of the Falken-
berg cannot be approached, but the weir which dams
up the river creates a pool some 65 ft. across, in which
mulberry-trees, fig-trees, reeds, and bushes are reflected,
and furnishes the power for working two great mills.
The river is but three miles long before it merges in the
estuary, and its banks are sprinkled with villas and
villages, the railway station and the admiralty stores
occupying the portion nearest to the harbour.

From Gravosa the excursion to the plane-trees of
Cannosa and to Stagno may be made. The great plane-
trees are 40 ft. in circumference, and their branches
spread over a diameter of some 200 ft. The larger one
takes twelve men with outstretched arms to surround
it. The villa of Count Gozze, close by, has beautiful
gardens. Stagno has historical interest. It is twenty-
three miles from Ragusa, and is mentioned in the
" Tavola Peutingeriana " as ''Turns Stagni " ; the
Romans knew it as " Stagnum." There are traces of
ancient walls right across the isthmus, which is only a
kilometre wide, Sabbioncello being thus almost an island.
It was given to Ragusa by Stephen VI. of Servia in
I333, and the Republic spent 120,000 ducats in fortify-
ing it during the next twenty-four years. Till 18 15 it
remained tributary to Ragusa, and was ruled by a civil
and political count. A little way north-west was the
northern slip of territory which Ragusa gave to Turkey
to prevent her territories touching those of Venice, the
little peninsula of Klek, with about two-thirds of a mile
of coast and the little port of Neum. On the south

336 RAGUSA

the Sutorina valley fulfilled the same function. Both
were handed over to Turkey in 1699 at the peace of
Carlowitz with the assistance of Spain, and were only
incorporated with Austria in 1878.

The road to Ragusa climbs the neck of the penin-
sula of Lapad, where the Ragusan merchants had their
villas in their days of prosperity, passing the exer-
cising-ground, up and down which recruits march and
manoeuvre notwithstanding the heat. The high walls
have masses of flowers hanging over them and little
summer-houses perched upon them here and there
among the verdure. At the bottom of the descent is
a tree-planted promenade, across which the grey walls
of the Porta Pile glimmer, pierced with a low arch
above which the patron saint, S. Biagio, looks forth
from an early Renaissance niche, with his hand raised
in blessing, as he does from above the other gates and
from the huge bulk of the Torre Menze, the great
tower crowning the line of walls which ramps up the
slope to the left. The situation is magnificent, and
from the sea the view of the town is unique among
Dalmatian cities by reason of the strong sea walls, a
sign of freedom from the supremacy of Venice, whose
winged lion only appears in one place, by the convent
of S. Maria, on the gate to the sea, closed in 1358,
where the upper border of the panel may also be seen.
Within these walls the streets are mere narrow lanes in
one direction, and in the other mainly flights of steps
which climb the hill. Fine effects of light are produced
in consequence, especially when the street dives be-
neath houses through dark arches. The only broad
street is the Stradone, which runs from one gate to the
other, and was once an arm of the sea, though one can
scarcely believe that it could have been so sufficiently
recently to have allowed of the ships lying close to the
merchants' houses in the time of Ragusan prosperity,

PORTA PILE, RAGUSA

To face page 336

525
<J

FORTIFICATIONS OF RAGUSA 337

as some say. The houses along this street are all of
the same character, and were, no doubt, built after the
great earthquake of 1667. Many of them have shops
beneath an arch, half of which is filled by the counter,
while on the wall outside hang draperies of ravishing
colours, or embroideries or metal-work, sparkling in
the sun, or cases containing jewellery, brightly coloured
leather-work, &c. Above the roof-cornices quaint
dormers and strangely fashioned chimneys rise, pro-
ducing a most picturesque sky-line.

The walls are perfect in their whole circuit, and
give one a very clear idea of the complicated arrange-
ments for the defence of a mediaeval town, by the many
gateways and tortuous roads by which the town is
entered, while the external appearance remains quite
mediaeval.

These fortifications date from 1380, when the last
Venetian Count had gone, but there are later additions.
At this time the Cast el S. Lorenzo was built, displacing
an oratory built on the site of a nunnery established
before the eleventh century. Forte Molo, by the
harbour (formerly Fort S. Giovanni, and now much
altered) and the tower of S. Luca still remain of the
earlier fortifications. As the town spread it was forti-
fied by the addition of the Torre Menze (built in 1464 by
Michelozzo and George of Sebenico, but altered in 1538),
the Torre Leverone (built in 1539 to defend the harbour
and the road to Breno), and Fort S. Margherita (1571).
The French built Fort Imperiale on Monte Sergio
and the battery on Lacroma. The cliff-like masses of
stone are stern and forbidding, and one thinks the
citizens must have been glad to escape from them on
to the wooded slopes of Monte Sergio (bare and stony
now), though their apparent impregnability must have
been comforting in those days; when the strong hand
often over-ruled right and justice.

338 RAGUSA

The origin of the city is given thus. Fugitives from
Epidaurus (Ragusa Vecchia) in 639 took refuge on a
rocky hill sheltered by an oak wood (dubrava in Slav,
from which the Slav name Dubrovnik may be derived),
and Salonitans joined them. In 690 or 870 they began
to enclose the place with walls, with the help of the
Servian ruler, Paulimir. These walls only enclosed
the southern part, and the Stradone served as ditch
and harbour. It is claimed that the Republic was
founded in 663. Three extensions of the walls are
recorded before the twelfth century. There was a
Slavonic colony on Monte Sergio, on the other side of
the ditch, and the name of their patron saint, Sergius,
has survived in that name. The patron saint of the
Latin colony on the island was Bacchus, and when the
two colonies amalgamated, as neither would accept
the patron saint of the other, they chose a fresh one,
S. Blaise. They put themselves under Venetian protec-
tion in 998, the first count being Ottone Orseolo. The
earliest recorded commercial treaty is with Pisa, made
in 1 1 69. From 1205 we find Venice supreme, and she
remained so for nearly a hundred and fifty years, with an
interval of Byzantine rule. In 1358 Ragusa was under
the protection of the king of Hungary : the sneer against
it of being " sette bandiere" (seven flagged) suggests
that it sought protection from more than one power at
a time. It was the headquarters of effort for the con-
version of the Slavs, which explains the gifts made
to its churches by Servian kings and nobles. From
1358 it was practically independent, though it paid a
tribute of 500 iperperi to Hungary, and used the Hun-
garian standard as well as that of S. Biagio. The
fifteenth century was the period of greatest prosperity,
overshadowed by the fear of being eaten up by Venice.
To make themselves secure the Ragusans paid tribute
to Constantinople in 1453 of 1,500 ducats, increased

THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE 339

afterwards to 10,000 ; and this tribute appears to have
been continued till 1718. Sigismond Malatesta came
to Ragusa in 1464, intending to make it a base of attack
on Italy in conjunction with the Sultan, but stayed
there, and became military commander. Ragusa thus
gained the special benevolence of the Pontifical Court,
and permission to traffic with the infidel.

The greatest misfortune which befel Ragusa was
the earthquake of April 6, 1667, which is thus de-
scribed. In the early morning " there came from
below ground a horrible and dreadful earthquake,
which in a few moments destroyed the Rector's palace,
the Rector himself being killed, and all the other palaces,
churches, monasteries, and houses in the city, every-
thing being overthrown, and there was much loss of
life ; the havoc was increased by the huge rocks which
fell from the mountains ; thus the city became a heap of
stones. At the same time, a wind having arisen, mis-
fortune was heapedupon misfortune, and, in consequence
of the fall of timbers upon the kitchen fires, flames
burst forth : the fire lasted several days, causing much
suffering to the few survivors of this horrible disaster.
Not more than 600, besides 25 nobles, escaped, and it
was a sad sight to see these people, most of them
injured, wandering about almost beside themselves
with despair, in the ruined streets, imploring pity and
pardon from the Lord God for their sins. Moreover,
the Castle rock was seen to burst open and close again
twice, and the waters of the sea sank back four times.
Even the wells dried up completely. The land fort
remained untouched ; the sea fort, the dogana, and the
lazaretto were partially damaged, but can be repaired
in a short time. Many, moved by compassion at
hearing the lamentable cries of those buried among the
ruins, struggled to remove the rubbish of stones and
timber with which they were covered, and found some

340 RAGUSA

still alive, although they had been three, four, or even
five days in that terrible condition " (from a Venetian
book of 1667). A good deal of plundering went on,
the peasants and Morlacchi looking on the catastrophe
as a godsend. Biagio Caboga and Michele Bosdari
armed their retainers, and kept watch over the ruined
churches and public buildings : the relics and remains
of the cathedral treasure were removed to a chapel in
the Dominican monastery, and bricked up, with a
barred aperture only left ; and the State treasure was
taken to Fort Leverone, where a provisional government
was established. The situation appeared so hopeless
that it was proposed to move the town to Gravosa, but
the citizens would not leave the place. Apparently some
5,000 people had been killed, but the fragments of
Venetian architecture on the slopes of Monte Sergio, as
well as the one house pointed out beyond the cathedral,
show that a good many houses survived in part.

In 1796, when the French occupied the Ionian Islands,
a French commissary appeared at Ragusa, and asked
for a loan of 1,000,000 francs. It was granted, but pro-
duced a rebellion which brought about a short occu-
pation by Austrian troops. By the peace of Presburg
(1805), Austria ceded Dalmatia and the Bocche to
France. The Bocchesi and Montenegrins determined
rather to give themselves to Russia, and, with the help
of a squadron sent from Corfu, took the Bocche from
Austria as far as Castelnuovo. The French moved
towards Ragusa, meaning to occupy Cattaro. General
Lauriston, with 800 men, crossed the Ombla and entered
the city under pretext of resting his soldiers. The news
reached Cattaro, and the Bocchesi, Montenegrins, and
Russians invaded the territory of the Republic, beating
the French near Ragusa Vecchia, and besieging them in
Ragusa. On July 6, 1806, Gravosa was burnt, with the
shipping and stores. In 1808 Marmont declared the

THE CHURCH OF S. STEFANO 341

"Republic dead and buried, and the French retained
Ragusa till 1814. In January of that year Count
Biagio Bernardo di Caboga raised the people, and with
English and Austrian troops, freed his country from the
French. The flag of Ragusa flew for the last time
between those of Austria and England on January 3.
On the 28th the territory was taken possession of by
Austria. A short time before the French occupation
Ragusa had 400 sea-going ships.

There is very little remaining from the early period,
though there are records of building being done. Resti,
who is an authority for the local history of Ragusa,
says that Stefano, king of Croatia Bianca, vowed to
restore S. Stefano, Ragusa, and remained there two
years while it was being done, spending much money
upon it. His wife Margherita, a noble Roman lady,
sent a quantity of silver to ornament the relics of the
saints, of which the church had many 3 and finally the
royal couple visited it, the king being accompanied by
several barons, and the queen by her ladies. The rest
of the Court stayed at Breno and Canali, because the
Ragusans said they could not accommodate them all,
the city being but small. The king, in return for the
distinguished treatment which was accorded him, is
said to have given to the Republic, Breno, Vergato,
Ombla, Gravosa, the valley of Mam, and part of
Gionchetto, on the condition of churches dedicated
to S. Stephen being built in all the towns. After his
-death his queen resolved to retire to Ragusa and
become a nun. She had a small room built for her by
the side of S. Stefano, and also built the little church of
S. Margherita, removed in 1570 when the fort which
still bears the same name was constructed, and rebuilt
in the present military hospital, the old Jesuit convent,
where it was used as a mortuary. She also brought
to Ragusa two pieces of the wood of the true Cross, the

342 RAGUSA

larger of which is still in the cathedral. The cell which
was built for her still existed in the fifteenth century.
The church of S. Stefano was the old cathedral ; it was
partially destroyed by the earthquake of 1667, and
never rebuilt. The site is now used as a recreation
ground for the cathedral clergy. Above an early
Renaissance door, made when the building was con-
verted into a sacristy for the later church, is encrusted
a piece of ninth-century sculpture, with the usual
arches, crosses, and palmettes, and in the adjoining wall
is an oculus with an ornamented moulding. By the
side of the bishop's palace is a little chapel with a
door apparently of the ninth century. It has a scroll
pattern up the jambs and across the lintel, with the
characteristic triple furrowing, and above the lintel a
palmette cornice ; on the reveal is a twisted guilloche
treated in the same manner. There are two or three
early churches of little interest on the hill ; one at
least has been rebuilt. Gelcich says : " Of the Byzantine
epoch, except the bas-reliefs of S. Stefano, nothing
remains save a memory in the name of the mountain
above the city, and the worship of some saint whose
name recalls the East."

The present cathedral was rebuilt between 1667
and 1713, and is of the usual character. It, however,
possesses several good pictures and a very rich treasury.
The most interesting of the pictures is a triptych
or portable altar, an old Bruges picture, which the
envoys took with them when they went to Constanti-
nople every three years to pay the tribute. The sub-
ject is the Adoration of the Magi. In the centre the
Virgin is seated with the Child on her lap. He is
kneeling, and extending His hand to the oldest of the
three kings, who has placed sceptre and gifts at the
Saviour's feet. Behind him is another king ; through
arches a landscape is seen at the back. On the left

Q
<

X
H

En
O

OPENING THE TREASURY 343

wing are the third king, a Moor, with a group of figures
and landscape behind. On the right wing is a bald-
headed man in a rich robe, and in the background a
castle. The centre panel is 2 ft. 9 in. high by 1 ft. 9 in.
broad. It is in the style of Memling. There are also
several Padovaninos and pictures ascribed to Titian
and others, a Palma Vecchio, and a fine head of Christ
by Pordenone.

The formalities for opening the treasure caused us
some trouble. We arrived just as the usual weekly
exhibition was over, and I was told that it was im-
possible for it to be opened again for seven days. I
explained that I had a special permission from the
Government to see such things, but that I preferred
asking Monsignore (and the little Canon who opened
the treasury) to be good enough to give me the facilities
which I desired. He asked to have the statthalter' s
letter to show the bishop. I knew, of course, that he
wanted to take it to the municipio, to see if it was
authentic, and therefore consented, on his engaging to
return it ; and so we parted. The next day I was
allowed to enter the treasury, thereby obliging a rich
American family, who would otherwise have found the
doors shut, and had a test of my knowledge applied by
being asked the period to which a reliquary belonged
of which the date was known. Having passed my exa-
mination satisfactorily, I had the pleasure of handling
any of the objects which I desired to examine, and,
further, of being asked to oblige Monsignore by telling
him the period when certain of the objects were made.
Some of the photographs of the reliquaries were not
quite successful, and the next year we returned to
make others, taking with us some copies which we had
promised to send to the bishop. I was rather amused
to be greeted effusively as " Carissimo " ; it was such a
contrast to our first reception.

344 RAGUSA

The treasury is particularly rich in reliquaries, of
which the most valued contains the head of S. Blaise.
It consists of a number of small Byzantine enamels
reset in an elaborate floral pattern of filigree and
enamel by a Venetian goldsmith in 1694 — " Franc00
Ferro Venet0," as he signs himself on the lower edge.
The design resembles the later Hungarian enamel-work
very closely. The stalks are simply gold wires, and the
leaves, flowers, &c, are filled in with enamels of differ-
ent colours, very delicately varied, leaving the copper
ground showing, each plaque being surrounded with a
twist of gold and pinned down to the capsule of the
skull. Legend says that the head was brought to Ra-
gusa in 1026, but even the Byzantine enamels scarcely
look as old as that ; and the occurrence of two half-
lengths of S. Blaise and two of S. Peter suggests that
it was made up with fragments of several reliquaries, of
which other portions have been used in the arm reli-
quary of S. Blaise. The names appear to have been
added in the thirteenth century ; the letters are Latin.
There are three rows of the enamels. At the top, upon
the curve, are four figures in roundels — " SS. Andreas,
Blasivs, Petrvs," and the Archangel Michael. The
nimbi are blue-green, the figures red. The second
row has eight enamels, alternately round and square ;
the round ones are unnamed, and represent three
saints (one with a stole, holding a cross in the right
hand) and a badly restored Madonna. The others
are: an Apostle with a roll, " Santvs Petrvs"; a
bishop, "Santvs Blasivs"; "Santvs Matevs " with
a book in the left hand; "Santvs Jacobvs" with
a roll. The third row has eight circular enamels,
alternately figures and ornaments. The figures are :
Christ enthroned, blessing with the right hand, and
with a roll in the left inscribed " IC XC " ; S. John the
Baptist with inscription " S. 10. BAPT." ; S. Zeno-

RELIQUARIES IN THE TREASURY 345

bius, with his name in full, commencing with a

Greek £; and S. John the Evangelist, " S. Johes Eb

Agenda.'* The arm reliquary is inscribed " Tomaso

Paleologo despota del Peloponeso donato a Giorgio

Radovanovich civi Raguseo 1452. " The saints who

appear on the enamels are SS. Laurence, Andrew,

Nereus, Achilleus, Lucas, Tomas, Simon, Bartholomew,

;md Paul. Another reliquary has remains of enamel

plaques of Christ, the Virgin, Simeon, SS. John the

Evangelist,

Blaise, and John

the Baptist. A

hand of S.Blaise

is contained in a

beautiful filigree

reliquary, and is

kept under glass.

Ahead reliquary

has a fine pierced

pattern and a

punched border™ r+ifr

of early Renais- "

sance character,

with niello

medallions of

,i -p> t , 1 HEAD RELIQUARY IN CATHEDRAL, RAGUSA

the Evangelists

symbols. Another, not quite so good, is dated 1349,
and has similar nielli, with interlacings of oak-sprigs.
There are several very curious thorax reliquaries, and
many arms. Two portable altars with inlaid reliquaries
in patriarchal crosses were seen by Eitelberger, with
fine figure subjects ; on one the Virgin and S. John in
repousse in Romanesque style, and Christ on the Cross
on the other, with the monograms added in enamel.
These I did not see. A cross with reliefs of the Virgin
and Child, with angels at the top, S. Mary Magdalene

346

RAGUSA

below, and SS. Blaise and Vincent on the arms, encloses

what the Canon told us with
pride was the largest piece
of the true Cross in existence.
A processional cross of the
fourteenth century, set upon
an eighteenth-century stem,
bears figures in relief of
Christ, and the Evangelists'
symbols, gilt on a silver
ground. On the back are
the Madonna and Child, with
God the Father above and a
cherub beneath, SS. Biagio
and Francis. Most of the
obj ects are either of the four-
teenth or late thirteenth
century in style, but may
very likely be later, the
goldsmiths still using the
patterns of an earlier period.
The curious reliquary sup-
porting the j aw of S. Stephen
of Hungary, and with a
figure of the monarch hang-
ing below it, is interesting
(as well as unusual) as being
an example of ancient Hun-
garian silversmith's work.
It was brought to Ragusa
for safety during the Turkish
period. There are also

reliquary of the jaw ok s.stephen several monstrance-like reli-

OF HUNGARY • -, r

quanes, and one fine mon-
strance of a later period with something of German style
in its foliated ornament ; but the objects which are

SILVER STATUE OF S. BIAGIO 347

exhibited with most pride and with evident expectation
of the stupefaction of the tourist are a ewer and dish of
silver-gilt, which are covered with representations of sea
creatures and weeds, worked with the most extraordinary
realism and fineness, and proving very satisfactorily
that the copying of nature and the production of a work
of art are not necessarily connected. They are kept in
leather cases, and the tourist generally makes the ex-
pected exclamations when they are disclosed to view.
There is an "N" stamped upon the metal, and it is
thought that Nuremberg was responsible for them.

The church of S. Biagio is quite near, a late Renais-
sance building, which replaced the votive church
erected in 1349-52 after the plague of 1348, and burnt
in 1706. Above the high-altar is the celebrated silver
statue of S. Blaise which was saved from the fire, and
is now preserved under glass. It is made of silver
plates, gilded, on a basis of wood, and shows the front
part of an old man with a long beard, in episcopal robes,
holding a model of the city. The back portion has
never been completed. The head is too large, the neck
too short, and the arms too long. The chasuble has an
embroidered cross with figures of Christ and three
saints or Apostles, with two little angels censing below
the arms, and a quatrefoil in the centre. Two half-
length saints are on the dalmatic beneath a double
arch. The draperies are well treated, especially the
chasuble, upon which is worked an elaborate Burgundian
pattern. The details of the town which the saint holds
in his hand prove that it was made between 1480 and
1485. It shows the harbour closed by a chain. The
breakwater was built in 1485. The clock- tower also
appears (built in 1480). The cast portions of the figure
(of which the town is one) are of silver of a different
colour from that of the beaten parts, and there is no
doubt, from the variety of style in certain of the details

348

RAGUSA

that it has been restored more than once, " probably
after the fires of 1547 and 1706.

The Dominican convent is just within the Porta
Ploce, and the stair which leads to it dates back to
Roman times, though it now has Venetian-looking

e\VXL

PLAN OF THE DOMINICAN CONVENT, RAGUSA

balustrades of the fourteenth century. It led to a gate
of the city. Until the seventeenth century it was the
duty of the Dominicans to defend Porta Ploce ; the
Franciscans defended Porta Pile ; and the cathedral
canons Porta Pescheria. One hundred soldiers were

CHURCH OF S. DOMINICO 349

selected monthly from the various ranks, and were
divided into two bands for alternate nightly police ;
twenty-seven more were told off to defend nine selected
points against external attack. The lesser towers be-
longed to patrician houses who were responsible for
their defence, whilst the greater and more exposed
were looked after by the State. The Dominicans were
first established in 1225, in S. Giacomo in Peline, a
small, roughly constructed church high on the hill,
which has a fourteenth-century Madonna over the
altar. Tradition says that S. Dominic himself estab-
lished the community. The present church was build-
ing in 1297, and was consecrated in 1306. The portions
which survived the earthquake of 1667 are the south
door with the apse of the chapel close to it, the main
apse, and the sacristy. This last is the ancient church
of the Assumption, given to the Dominicans in 1253 by
the Palmotta. The convent was built in 1348. The
church has a long nave with a horizontal wooden roof
and a polygonal apse. The choir was once vaulted.
There are two side altars in recesses rather behind
the high-altar. Above them are restored pictures by
Nicolaus Raguseus. To the right the centre panel is
filled by a figure of S. Nicholas in a shell-headed niche ;
on the right are SS. Mary Magdalene and James ; on
the left, SS. John the Baptist and Stephen. The panels
are round-headed, and the sky fills the space behind
the figures with their gilded nimbi. On S. Stephen's
dalmatic are patterns in gold ; S. Nicholas's chasuble is
of gold with patterns on it. In the picture to the left
the Madonna is seated on the crescent moon holding
the Child, and surrounded by cherubs ; on her right are
S. Biagio holding the city, and S. Paul ; on her left,
S. Thomas Aquinas holding a church, and S. Augustine.
There is a good deal of gold used in the draperies, and
the ground is gold. Both these pictures are very

350 RAGUSA

decorative. The high-altar-piece is a Venetian Ma-
donna and Child, with SS. Dominic and Clara. On the
north wall is a picture ascribed to Titian, parts of which
may be from his hand, but it has been restored. It
represents S. Biagio with a crozier, holding the town ;
S. Mary Magdalene in ecstasy, with long hair and a
white dress ; at the right the donor kneeling, and behind
him Tobit and the Angel. There is also a great coloured
crucifix with SS. John and Mary, regarded as miracu-
lous at the time of the plague of 1358. It was placed
here by Pasquale Resti, and is well modelled, with the
head cast down. The dark brown colouring of the
hair is not pleasant, and the white drapery cuts hardly
against the dark-hued flesh.

The pulpit is of stone ; beneath shell-headed niches
on the front stand figures of SS. Catherine of Siena,
Dominic, Thomas Aquinas, and Peter Martyr. They
and their emblems are painted ; the nimbi and the ribs
of the shells are gilded. Across the west end of the
nave is a fine early Renaissance triple arch which was
once the architectural setting to three altars on the
north side of the church. Among the ornament, traces
of Gothic feeling still linger. In the sacristy are an
Early Martyrdom of S. Laurence and two other pic-
tures in compartments on a gold ground, which bear a
certain resemblance to others produced in the March
of Ancona. The frame of one of them is especially
fine, with projecting hoods to the niches in which the
figures stand. In the centre is the Baptism of Christ,
with a landscape background; on the right are SS.
Augustine and Stephen ; on the left, SS. Nicholas and
Michael. Above are half-lengths of the Madonna and
Child in a vesica starred with cherubs ; on the right,
SS. Peter Martyr and Francis ; on the left, SS. Peter
and|Dominic. Another has the Madonna, SS. Julian,
James, Dominic, and Matthew on a gold ground.

SACRISTY AND TREASURY, S. DOMINICO 351

These have also been restored. There are also two
good Flemish pictures on panel, a Christ and a veiled
woman. Within a pointed arch is an interesting
funerary inscription stating that the port was the work
of " Pasqualis Michaelis Ragusmus/' with the date
1485. He was also master of the foundry, and appar-
ently supervised the fortifications. He was the archi-
tect of the bridge of Porta Pile in 1471, and to him the
design of the Sponza is ascribed by some. The note
recording the commencing of the construction of the
port (February 19, 148 1) embodies the fact of the
sailors' approval of the design.

The cross of Uros I. (1275-1320) is over an altar
in a room within the sacristy, the door of which is kept
double-locked. It is not very interesting from the
point of view of craft. It is a patriarchal cross with
piercings at the crossings, and rosettes at the ends of
the arms, which are probably later additions. The
material is silver, parcel-gilt.

The treasury contains reliquaries and chalices, and
a Gothic monstrance, but nothing of great interest.
The south door has round arches beneath an ogee
hood, the jambs are ornamented with damaged scrolled
leafage, and in the tympanum is a figure of S. Dominic.
The apse of the chapel close by is Romanesque, and,
with the flight of steps to the door and the foliage
of a tree which overhangs them, makes a picturesque
background to the groups of Herzegovinians who
pass on their way from the Porta Ploce to the
Stradone. The cloister is, however, the most pictur-
esque part of the convent. Beneath round arches
smaller cusped round arches with shafts and caps
are grouped in threes, the head having two circles
within it, sometimes pierced as quatrefoils, sometimes
with an interlacing pattern with Oriental suggestion,
and reminding one of the patterns in a similar situa-

352

RAGUSA

tion in the cloister at Tarragona. The same mixture
of ornamental motifs may be noticed in the richly
carved moulding which terminates the wall beneath
the parapet. The well in the centre is of 1623, but
takes its place among the trees, flowers, and warm-

PLAN AND ELEVATION OF ONE BAY OF CLOISTER,
DOMINICAN CONVENT, RAGUSA

toned stone quite pleasantly. Above towers the cam-
panile containing two old bells, one cast by Battista
of Arbe in 15 16, and one by Bartolommeo of Cremona,
in 1363. It was built by a Ragusan, Fra Stefano, in
1424, and has three stories of two-light windows, with
mid-wall shafts under round arches, and a crowning

LAVABO IN SACRISTY OF FRANCISCAN CONVENT, RAGUSA

To face page 353

THE FRANCISCAN CONVENT 353

octagonal stage. The enlargement of the church and
convent was executed by the architect Pasquahs
Michaelis, just referred to.

The Franciscan convent is at the other end of the
Stradone, just inside the Porta Pile. The Order was at
first established outside ; but the convent founded in
1235 was destroyed by the Republic to prevent the
Servians from using it as shelter, and in 1315 the
monks came within the walls. It is said that S. Francis
himself came to Ragusa in 1220, and several of the
Franciscan convents in Dalmatia claim to have been
founded by him. The church has a late Gothic door-
way on the south, with an ogee tympanum bearing a
Pieta, and flanked by pinnacled niches which have
statues of SS. John the Baptist and Jerome ; above is
a figure of a bearded saint holding a book. The foliage
is well carved, and the pilasters are panelled in two
stages. Behind the church is the first cloister, sur-
rounded by an arcade resting on coupled octagonal
colonnettes with unmoulded round arches, divided into
groups of six by piers. The wall above is pierced by
oculi of different sizes, some of which have quatrefoil
tracery within, and the caps of the columns show an
almost Romanesque variety and vivacity. The wall
terminates with a carved quarter-roll moulding and a
balustrade with cusped round arches above coupled
colonnettes. This balustrade, notwithstanding its
style, was only completed in 1629, unless this date
refers merely to repairs done at that time. On the
south side is a fifteenth-century fountain, with a later
statue of S. Francis ; in front of it is a paved walk
flanked by seats, the backs of which form the en-
closure of the raised garden on each side. It is as
pleasant a place as the Dominican cloister, though quite
unlike it. The architect was Mag. Mycha of Antivari,
whose signature may be found on a corner pilaster,

354 RAGUSA

with the date 1363. Higher up the hill is another
cloister, long and narrow, with round arches resting on
square piers, and a well under a picturesque penthouse
roof. Here it was that the herbs and simples were
grown. By the side of the steep stair (which goes up
still higher) a little rill of water flows, I suppose, to the
lower cloister. The convent cost 28,000 ducats to
the public treasury, besides much given by generous
donors, the Ghent merchants especially contributing
largely. The top of the campanile was replaced after
the earthquake of 1667. In the sacristy are some stall-
fronts and cupboards ornamented with intarsia of
arabesques and figures of saints of the Order, the latter
rather rough in workmanship. Also a pretty, early
Renaissance lavabo in Istrian stone. The church plate,
including a fine monstrance, is kept in a Gothic cup-
board painted with the arms of the Bona family. In
the church is a great crucifix which came from Stagno,
painted in tempera, with the symbols of the Evangelists.
The library is rich in literary documents, and in the
convent, upstairs, is a picture which shows Ragusa as
it was before the earthquake.

High on the hill above the Franciscan church is the
early nuns' church of La Sigurata, hidden away in a
court. Like several others of the early churches it
shows no sign of its great antiquity.

The Rector's Palace was commenced in 1388 and
completed in 1424, at a cost of 40,000 zecchins. In
1435 it was partially burnt, and was restored under
" Onofrio Giordani de la Cava," who had been five
years in the city.

The second story, which existed as a kind of tower
above each end of the facade, was thrown down by
the great earthquake, and never rebuilt. The loggia
has stone benches against the walls, one to the left, and
two, one above the other, to the right, which were the

LOGGIA OF THE RECTOR'S PALACE, RAGUSA

To face page 354

CAPITAL FROM THE LOGGIA, RECTOR'S PALACE, RAGUSA

To face page 355

THE RECTOR'S PALACE 355

seats for senators on great fete days. In 1462 there
was another fire, so that only fragments of Onofrio's
work remain — the hall on the ground floor with the
seventeenth-century wooden ceiling, several of the caps
of the loggia, and the courtyard within, the great door
and the windows of the first floor. This is all that
appears to have been preserved. The great council
then called in Michelozzo the Florentine and George of
Sebenico. The former was at Ragusa in 1463, looking
after the building of the walls of the city ; and on
February 11, 1464, it was ordered "that the palace be
rebuilt" after his designs; but, in the following June,
George of Sebenico was appointed, working, no doubt,
on the general lines laid down by Michelozzo. The
great hall was burnt during the French siege, and very
little remains inside worthy of note. There are two
tolerable pictures, one an early copy of the Paris
Bordone in the National Gallery, the Venus and Adonis,
and the other, a Baptism of Christ, in the manner of
Paduan work of the fifteenth century. Both have
been restored. The courtyard has an arcade of round
arches, resting on cylindrical columns with Renaissance
caps, and an upper arcade resting on twin columns
and piers, two arches to each bay, both stories being
vaulted with sustaining arches, but without ribs. The
loggia in front has ribs and bosses at the intersections.
A small staircase to the right contains other remains of
Onofrio's building — a bracket, on which is carved a
figure of Justice holding a label, and with a mutilated
lion on each side of her ; opposite to it is a capital, on
which is carved the Rector administering justice ;
neither of them in their original place. The main
doorway is pointed with a richly carved moulding and
caps, which belong to Onofrio's work ; above it is
S. Biagio in a Renaissance niche, and between the caps
and the arch a shallow frieze is interposed, on which

356 RAGUSA

are carved little figures engaged in combats, a love
scene, and Cupids with an organ and trumpets. The
corbels from which the vaults spring are carved, the
subjects being two groups of boys playing, a man
fighting a dragon or basilisk with club and little target,
a struggle between a girl and a bear, &c. The doors
at the end, the Porta della Carita, where distribution of
corn used to be made to the poor at a low price, and
that opening on a stair to the hall of the Lesser Council
appear to belong to the earlier building. The ring
with the lion's head on the door is a fine piece of four-
teenth-century bronze-work. The knocker is not so
good. A knight with raised arm stands on a lion's
head against a post covered with scales ; above and
below foliage spreads out. The caps of the loggia are
very fine, though not of equal value. The three central
ones are Renaissance work, and marry admirably with
their heavy, ornamented abaci, which in the others
appear over-heavy, and plainly an addition. In the
earlier work the technique of the carving is better, and
the foliage has more spring. The most interesting one
is the ^Esculapius subject, which De Diversis saw in
the carver's hands in 1435, planned, as he says, by
Nicolo de Lazina, a Cremonese noble, who was chan-
cellor at the time. It is interesting both from the
point of view of the carving and costume, and as
showing the apparatus of an alchemist's laboratory.
Close by it on the wall is the " metrical epitaph/'
which De Diversis says the chancellor composed. The
columns, which are of Curzola marble, belong to the
earlier building, though the entasis shows that classical
feeling was beginning to affect even architects who
worked in Gothic. Mr. T. G. Jackson's explanation of the
addition of the heavy abaci seems quite reasonable —
viz. that the earlier arcade was pointed, and that, since
a good deal of the building survived the fire, it was

^SCULAPIUS CAPITAL, RECTOR'S PALACE, RAGUSA

To face page 356

FOUNTAIN OF ONOFRIO DE LA CAVA, RAGUSA

To lace page 357

FOUNTAINS AND A VOTIVE CHURCH 357

necessary to raise the springing of the arches, when
they were made round to match the levels of the ends
which were not destroyed. The carved string-course
above and the Gothic windows of the piano nobile are
also remains of the earlier building. There was a castle
on the site of the palace from the days of the establish-
ment of the Slav colony on Monte Sergio, which, to-
gether with the marshy inlet which then occupied the
site of the Stradone, afforded sufficient protection to
make sudden attack on the part of the Slavs inadvis-
able ; when the two settlements were joined together
by a common line of defences it became the seat of
government.

There are two other pieces of Onofrio's work still in
existence in Ragusa, the pretty little fountain between
the Rector's Palace and the Sponza, next door to the
Corpo di Guardia, of which an illustration is given,
showing a certain admixture of Renaissance feeling
with Gothic foliage, and the much mutilated fountain
just within the Porta Pile. It had two columns at
each angle, of which only the inner one remains, and a
marble cupola surrounded by statues. The aqueduct
which supplies it and the other fountains is eight miles
long, and brings the water from Gionchetto. It was
only completed in 1438, after many discouraging
incidents. Opposite to it is the pretty facade of
S. Salvatore, built after the earthquake of 1520, and
due to Bartolommeo da Mestre, " protomagister " of
the cathedral of Sebenico, which it resembles a good
deal in the character of its design and mixture of
Gothic and Renaissance forms. It has a nave of three
bays with an apse ; the vaulting is Gothic, as are the
windows, but the arches rest on classic pilasters, used
also at the angles of the facade, the horizontal lines of
which are varied by the semicircular gable and quad-
rants which flank it. A rose-window occupies the

358

RAGUSA

central place, and above the door (which is rather later
in style) is a long dedicatory inscription in an orna-
mented panel space.

At the bottom of the piazza, upon which the Rector's

Palace, the cathedral,
and S. Biagio face,
is the Sponza or
Dogana, the ancient
custom - house and
mint. The custom-
house was on the
ground floor, and the
scales for weighing
merchandise hung in
the wide arch oppo-
site the entrance.
The mint was on the
second floor, and the
first floor was used
for carnival and

social meetings of the
nobility. The build-
ing is of several
periods dating from
the beginning of the
fourteenth century to
1520, a date given by
an inscription on the
second story. The
courtyard has an
arcade of round
arches, four on each

BlfsttMtt-

PLAN OF LA SPONZA, RAGUSA

side, and one of a greater breadth at each end, resting
on octagonal piers, the caps and arches moulded simply.
The first floor has an arcade of pointed arches, two to
a bay, with alternate piers and columns, the end having

LA SPONZA AND ONOFRIO'S FOUNTAIN, RAGUSA

To face page 359

THE SPONZA 359

circular arches above the broader arch below. The
second story is lighted by four little square windows,
and above are three quatrefoils to give air to the roof
timbers. On the end wall are two angels in relief,
holding " I.H.S." within a garland. The two arcades
are vaulted simply, the caps en the first floor have
good foliage, and the stories are divided by moulded
string-courses. Names of saints are inscribed over
the doors of the warehouses opening from the lower
cloister.

The facade terminates with a fantastic cresting
above the roof cornice. In the centre of the second
story is a niche with a figure of S. Blaise, flanked by
two rectangular windows on each side. The piano
nobile has two ogee-headed windows with geometric
tracery, flat decorated archivolt, and slender shafts on
the outer and inner surface of the jamb, and a three-
light window in the centre, made up to a square head
with quatrefoils in the fashion of the Ca d'Oro at
Venice. On the ground floor there is a graceful round-
arched portico resting on columns with Renaissance
caps ; beneath it are the windows and entrance door
of the custom-house. The building is still used for its
original purpose, and Albanian and Herzegovinian
porters lounge about it in strange costumes. The
clock-tower was built in 1480, and altered in 1781.
There is a bell in it founded by Battista of Arbe. Oppo-
site is the Roland column. Affixed to a pilaster is a
symbolic statue typifying freedom of jurisdiction and
commerce. It was replaced there in 1878 after a pro-
longed sojourn in the Rector's Palace, having been
thrown down by a storm in 1825, when a brass plate
was found with an inscription of the beginning of the
fifteenth century, stating that here was the place of the
standard of the Republic. It is not a work of any
artistic merit.

360 RAGUSA

A little way outside Porta Pile (thought to be a
corruption of the Greek word nvkr), a gate) is the
cemetery church " alle Dance," overlooking a bay
beneath the Lapad promontory. It was begun in 1457
for the poor of the city, and contains a fine picture.
The west door is elaborately carved with somewhat
confused ornament, and in the pointed tympanum is a
Madonna and Child flanked by two standing angels,
which do not fit in quite comfortably. By the door is
a holy-water niche of still stranger design, with a shell-
head which quite insufficiently supports the three
figures forming the crowning feature. The sacristy
was in possession of several women who were washing
clothes on both the occasions when I visited the church.
The picture is by " Nicholavs Rhagvsinvs,,, who thus
signs it, with the date 1517. It is in the original frame
divided by pillars into three compartments, with a
predella and a lunette above. In the lunette is a
Crucifixion with the Virgin and S. John, two female
figures and S. Mary Magdalene, and cherubs round our
Lord ; the Virgin's robe is deep blue ; the others are
red or green, on a gold ground. In the centre com-
partment are the Virgin and Child enthroned, with a
little S. John kneeling, surrounded by little angels.
Silver crowns have been added. The Virgin has a red
robe with a cloak of cloth of gold on which is an elabor-
ate pattern in dark blue ; the Child holds fruit and corn ;
the cherubs have scarlet wings and gilt nimbi. In the
right-hand panel is S. Martin on horseback, dividing
his cloak ; he wears a green tunic, over which is a
golden coat with a design in red lines upon it. The
cloak is bright scarlet. The beggar is Christ with
cruciferous nimbus. On the left hand is S. Gregory,
with his dove on his shoulder, carrying a crucifix ; he
wears a richly-embroidered cope of cloth of gold, with
red pattern and a border of saints in niches. These are

PICTURES IN THE "DANCE" CHURCH 361

both on gold grounds. The predella has also three
compartments. In the centre is S. George and the
dragon, with a pale blue landscape and sea; the princess
kneels in the background. On the right hand is a saint
receiving a mitre from two bishops, surrounded by
other bishops, monks, choristers, &c. On the left, a
pope in a golden robe is being crowned by two cardinals,
surrounded by cardinals, bishops, Dominicans, and
Franciscans. There is a landscape background. The
whole effect is most decorative, due partly, no doubt,
to the fine frame with golden arabesques on a dark
blue ground. Another picture above the high- altar
looks later, though it is in a very architectural frame.
It represents the Madonna and Child on a large scale
in the centre, with God the Father and angels in an
oblong panel above. At each side of the Madonna are
two small saints one above the other, probably SS.
Francis, George, Blaise, and Nicholas. The Madonna
and Child and God the Father have crowns of silver
or silver-gilt ; the Child is nude ; the Madonna draped
in metal, with a pattern on the outer robe. The
background and the frieze are entirely covered with
little votive silver plaques.

From the hill which one mounts on the return,
the whole of Ragusa lies spread at one's feet, from
the great fort S. Lorenzo, perched upon its rock, to the
Torre Menze, the culminating point of the walls, in
front of which the lower slopes of Monte Sergio are
covered with the houses of the suburb. On a fine
evening the view past the fort towards the Bocche is
enchanting, but when scirocco blows, and the foam
splashes high up the rocks, it is not safe to approach
the edge. Here a pleasant garden has been laid out,
and aloes grow, though not so luxuriantly as on the
other side of the town.

Above the door of the salt-magazine near Porta

362 RAGUSA

Ploce is the oldest relief of S. Blaise, possibly dating
from the beginning of the thirteenth century. Behind
the communal palace is the harbour, Porto Casson,
which recalls the prosperity of the Republic, when it
was one of the richest countries in the world, and when
the merchants and privateer captains who lived in
the Via Priko, upon the hill, owned between them
100,000,000 ducats, according to computation.

From here a little steam-launch plies in the afternoon
to the island of Lacroma, on which a cloister was founded
in the eleventh century, the Benedictine rule being
transplanted hither in 1023 from the Tremiti Islands in
the person of Fra Pietro the Ragusan, who, with a priest
named Leone, laid the foundations of the monastery
on land given them for that purpose. An inscription
mentions the name of Vitalis the archbishop, son of
Dominus Theodore (1023-1047). It was the Ragusan
Westminster Abbey till the Franciscan and Dominican
churches were built. Here it was that Richard Cceur
de Lion escaped from shipwreck, and, according to local
tradition, founded the cathedral of.Ragusa in gratitude
for his escape, though the entries in the Ragusan
archives prove that it was built by contributions from
the nobles. The ill-fated Maximilian of Mexico owned
the island, and restored the convent as a country resi-
dence, in which the unfortunate Crown Prince Rudolf
also lived. We, who had gone there in hopes of seeing
something of the eleventh-century buildings, were dis-
appointed at being taken through corridors and rooms
containing objects which were looked upon as relics,
and finally round some elaborately laid out and luxu-
riant gardens to one or two natural curiosities. The
building is now occupied by a school, towards the
support of which a landing-tax of one corona per
person is exacted. This did not, however, prevent
the man who showed us round telling us that he was

OUTSIDE PORTA PLOCE 363

dependent on the charity of visitors ! All that is
to be seen in the way of architecture is a cloister of
the early Renaissance period, pretty enough with its
garden within ; but I should certainly not recommend
the English tourist to spend time and money in
visiting the island.

Beyond the harbour of Ragusa the road leads below
the Dominican convent to the outer Ploce gate, passing
two chapels — SS. Annunziata, with a group of S. John
the Baptist and two other saints in the tympanum of
the Gothic doorway, and S. Luke, with Renaissance de-
coration and tympanum. Turning sharply beneath two
gates, above the outer of which S. Blaise stands in his
usual place, the road passes over a stone bridge which
replaces the original drawbridge, and through the outer
gates to the lazaretto and Turkish bazaar. Here there
is a late Renaissance fountain, at which country people,
most of whom are Herzegovinians, may be seen water-
ing their mules, for the road to Trebinje comes down to
this gate. There is little else to see in the bazaar, the
importance of which has much declined ; but from this
side of the town charming views of Ragusa may be
obtained, with a foreground of rocks, of aloes, often in
bloom, of rough steps going down to the shore, or a
little farther away, where the height of Lapad can be
seen crowning the city, of olives and stony roads ;
always with the blue sea stretching from below towards
and beyond the grey town shut so securely within its
walls. Beyond is the romantically situated deserted
convent of S. Giacomo degli Olivi, and from it paths
wander farther among olives and cypresses along the
edge of the cliff, below which, on the level of the water,
is the grotto Spila Betina.

The Republic was a curious mixture of enlighten-
ment and oriental backwardness. In 1335 the whole
town was paved, a great sewer was constructed, and

364 RAGUSA

there were regulations about tiling and other construc-
tional matters. Traffic in slaves was abolished by act
of the Greater Council on January 26, 1416. In 1432 a
foundling hospital was established, and in '1435 public
schools. All who died of the plague in 1430 were burnt,
by advice of the Ferrarese physician Giacomo God-
waldo, who also established the custom of isolating the
sick some years before. Yet, in the state prisons below
the small loggia, prisoners were sometimes walled up
alive, and dungeons existed flooded at high tide, with-
out any precautions being taken to prevent it. The
treatment of women was quite oriental. In 1462 girls
above the age of twelve were not allowed outside the
house, and were seen only by their relations and by
ecclesiastics ; and, of course, marriages were arranged by
the parents. In the theatre, only noble women and
those of the citizen class were admitted. The sumptu-
ary laws were strict. Nobles and public officials above
eighteen were obliged to wear a large loose robe and
black hose. It is recorded that a certain Tuberone
Cerva came into the Senate one day with a robe longer
than the prescribed measure, and it was cut short then
and there, which mortified him so much that he turned
monk. At funerals they had hired mourners, which
again suggests oriental influences.

The consiglio maggiore contained all the nobles
above twenty years of age inscribed in the golden book
called " Lo Specchio " (which was compiled in 1440).
The Senate acted as court of appeal in judicial cases,
and was formed of forty-five senators, the " Pregati,"
who were over forty years of age. The executive was
the Little Council of seven members. At the head of
public administration was a senator who from 1358 was
called Prior, then Count, and later Rector. The popu-
lace called him " Knez " (Prince). He was in office for a
month only, and, with eleven councillors, settled the

GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC 365

most important affairs of state. He lived in the palace,
and only left it on state business. He wore a red cloak
with a black band on the left side, and red shoes and
stockings (in accordance with a Byzantine tradition).
He never went out alone, but was always accompanied
by councillors, secretaries, the chamberlain, twenty-
four red-clad attendants, and a band of music. Besides
the Rector there was a town council of ten, which acted
as police superintendents. The five pr ovv editor it elected
annually from among the " Pregati," looked after the
rigorous observance of the statute. No law could be
altered without the vote of seven-eighths of the Greater
Council, and no new law could be made without a three-
quarters majority of the same. The treasurers were
elected from the oldest senators. At the head of the
eleven administrative districts were counts or repre-
sentatives ; they were the only salaried officials.

Under the Venetian supremacy great precautions
were taken to prevent usurpation of the rights of the
Republic, while the count was received with great
splendour. On disembarking, he presented himself to
the people, received from the signory the standard of
S. Biagio, and, with this in his hand, swore on the gos-
pels to preserve and observe the customs and laws of
Ragusa. Then he went to the cathedral, receiving at
the door incense and holy water from the chapter, who
gave him the gospels to kiss, upon which he renewed his
oath in front of the altar. After a canon had delivered
an oration in praise of him and of the doge, he returned
to the piazza, still bearing the standard, where he re-
ceived the homage of the people, " who swore the holy
pact with the Serenissima," the standard of S. Mark
being unfurled.

The people were divided into five castes — clergy,
nobles, citizens, workmen (sailors, merchants, &c), and
countrymen. There was a gulf between nobles and

366 RAGUSA

people. The countrymen were like serfs attached to
the land, and spoken of as " things " belonging to their
masters. Among the nobles were two orders. Those
of ancient lineage were called " Salamanchesi," from
the University of Salamanca, where they had been
educated ; the " Sorbonnesi " (from the Sorbonne)
were nobles of more recent date.

After the earthquake of 1667 several citizen families
were ennobled. But between the two ranks of nobles
the antipathy was so great that they never intermarried.
The plague of 1526 destroyed 20,000 persons, that of
1348, 11,000, and the earthquake of 1667 some 6,000.
It has been computed that in the times of her prosperity
Ragusa counted 40,000 inhabitants. In connection
with the visitations of the plague it may be noted that
in 1466 the musicians of the rector were ordered to go
every Saturday to play before the houses of large donors
to the votive church of S. Biagio ; but by the request of
their descendants this custom was in 1548 replaced by
a similar concert in front of the altar of the crucifix in
that church.

In 1805 the first capital sentence for twenty-five
years was pronounced. The city went into mourning,
and an executioner had to be brought for the purpose
from Turkey.

The salt monopolies and the customs were the most
important parts of the revenue, but there were also im-
portant manufactures. Ragusa made woollen and silk
stuffs after the looms for silk were brought from Tus-
cany in 1539, and shoes and glass, coral wares and wax,
besides salt and other things were produced and sent
into the interior by caravans. Ships went to India and
America, France, Spain, England, and Holland. A
document addressed by Cromwell to the Senate is
extant, granting privileges in all English harbours to
Ragusans, and they were as daring sailors as the

THE COINAGE 367

Bocchesi, as many as 300 serving as captains in the
navies of Charles V. and his successors.

The earliest law of Ragusa relating to the coinage
is one of 1327 imposing penalties for falsification of
money. This shows that it had a mint before that
time. At this date the " grosso " is the only silver coin
of the town known, but the fines are all calculated in
" iperperi." The word " zecha " occurs for the first
time in a law of 1338. A few years afterwards all im-
porters of silver had to present themselves at the mint
within three days of their arrival, the tenth part of their
silver being liable to purchase at "14 iperp : and 2
grossi " the pound. If they did not do so the tenth part
was confiscated, half going to the informer. In 1420 the
price was half as much again, and in 1161 it was worth
38 iperperi the pound. In 1748 the mint had ceased
issuing money, but was at work again from 1791 till
1806. The iperpero was worth 12 grossi, and 3 of
them went to a scudo. The earliest known is of 1683.
In Ralph of Coggesh all's time it was worth 3 sous of
silver — that is to say, about 105. At Ragusa this coin
still passes, according to a writer in the Bullettino di
Storia Dalmata.

Six miles beyond Ragusa is Ragusa Vecchia, the
ancient Epidaurus, which became a Roman colony in
10 a.d. under the Consul Cornelius Dolabella, and was
destroyed by the Avars. Near here is the grotto of
iEsculapius, on Mount Snienitza, thought to be the
Mons Cadmaeus of antiquity, entered by a hole 8 ft.
across in the living rock. The cave is in the form of a
cross, 92 ft. long and 164 ft. broad, with stalactites and
stalagmites. In the middle is a pond called " The
Nymph's Bath," with slightly acidulated and intensely
cold water. A legend, which goes back to the tenth
century, says that a dragon lived here, going out at
night and slaughtering men and women. The hermit

368 RAGUSA

S. Hilarion attacked and burnt it, calling on the people
to thank God, and declaring that it was the Devil.
According to one tradition ^Esculapius was born in
Epidaurus of a beautiful Dalmatian, Jupiter being his
father. His statue, in the form of a serpent, was erected
there, but was taken to Rome in 393 B.C., during a
visitation of plague, which then ceased.

XXIV

THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO

The fine harbour known as the " Bocche di Cattaro " is
thirteen miles long from the entrance to Cattaro itself,
which lies at the extreme south. The " bocche," the
mouths, lie between the Punta d'Ostro and the Punta
d' Arza, both fortified, and in the channel is the little rock
Rondoni, on which is another fort, Mamola. These
defensive works were completed in 1897. The bay was
known to the ancients as " Sinus Rhizomcus," Rhizon,
from which it was then named, being the modern Risano
at the extremity of the northern arm. The "Tavola
Peutingeriana " gives the name " Resinum." The first
mention of the " Rhizinitae " is about B.C. 229, at the
period of the unfortunate wars waged by Teuta, widow
of Agron, against the Romans. Their origin is vari-
ously ascribed to Colchis, Troy, and to Sicilian colonies
sent by Dionysius of Syracuse. The Bocchesi prefer a
Sicilian origin ; but the Greeks called all this part of the
continent Illyris Barbara. Livy mentions the Rizuniti
among the peoples of the kingdom between the fall of
Teuta and the ruin of Genzius. Risano was Teuta' s,
capital, and there she died in 220 B.C. Her husband
Agron had conquered the country as far as Friuli.

Teuta allowed her subjects to be pirates, with the
result that Issa (Lissa), the only island which had re-
mained independent, complained to Rome, and the
Romans sent an embassy to protest ; but the youngest

369 47

370 THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO

ambassador offended her majesty, and was beheaded
in consequence. This decided the Romans to destroy
her power, and treachery made the task easy. From
227 B.C. Corfu, Lesina, and Lissa were under Roman
protection ; the Illyrians were only allowed two ships,
and were not permitted to pass the Issus. Subsequent
intrigues between Demetrius (who had gained the lord-
ship over the Ardiei by treachery) and Philip III. of
Macedon, wars and revolts, brought about the subjec-
tion of Illyria to the Romans, and its conversion into
a province in 168 B.C. The far-seeing Rizuniti had
already put themselves under Roman protection, and
were therefore given privileges, exempting them from
all public burdens.

At Prevlacca, near Punta d'Ostro, are remains of
antique walls, thought to be those of the ancient
Epidaurus, by those who maintain that it was at the
gates of the ' ' Sinus Rhizonicus. ' ' Most authorities, how-
ever, agree in placing it at Ragusa Vecchia. Objects
of the bronze age have been excavated at Risano, and
sepulchral stones and altars of strange and un-Roman
form have been found at Lastua Inferiore and Per-
zagno.

Cattaro appears as a Roman city under the name of
Ascrivium or Acrivium, and it and Risano are the only
two towns known at the fall of the Illyrian kingdom.
The Romans made a road from Aquileia to Durazzo.
It passed by Epidaurus and along the Sutorina Valley
to Castelnuovo, where it turned along the coast to
Risano, Perasto, Orohovac, Dobrota, and Ascrivium.
Thence it went to Castel Trinita. This road put the
Rizuniti into communication with the Dalmatians, and
with the tribes to the south. Rizinum was a Roman
colony, and inscriptions show that it belonged to the
Sergian tribe and was governed by decurions. It was
the seat of the god Medaurus, of whom all that is

HISTORICAL DETAILS 371

known is contained in an inscription found at Lambessa
in Mauritania, set up by a Dalmatian legate sent to
Numidia as consul by Marcus Aurelius (161-180 a.d.).
It records the dedication of a lance to him.

Ascrivium was also a Roman colony. The munici-
pal senate was presided over by duumvirs, who held
office for a year, and had power over the entire adminis-
tration of the city and of justice. The greater part of
the ancient Rhizon is now under water, and Cattaro
has been many times destroyed by invaders, so that
there are very few antique remains.

At Risano are the remains of a building vaulted in
two compartments, like an ancient tomb, and a few
stones. Some thirty sarcophagi found there in 1870
raised hopes of the discovery of a necropolis, but these
hopes were disappointed. A colossal foot of an ox in
bronze and one of white marble were found in 1868, and
a few inscriptions, one of which, at the entrance to the
Greek church, shows that the 7th Legion was stationed
there. It is to a distinguished soldier, who had twice
gained a golden garland of honour, neckchain, and brace-
lets, which he wore in the triumph after the Dacian
war. At Prevlacca, Cattaro, Scagliari, Scoglio S.
Giorgio, and Perasto are also inscriptions.

After the death of Theodosius the ' ' Sinus Rhizoni-
cus " became subject to the Western Empire (395 a.d.),
and till the days of Diocletian it was the southern limit of
Dalmatia. Justinian took it from the Ostrogoths, and,
considering it as part of Dardania, fortified the castle
of Karrapo? in 532 to defend it from barbarian inroads.
Risano, like Salona and Epidaurus, was destroyed by
an inroad of the Huns in 639, after which Heraclius
handed Dalmatia over to the Croats and Serbs, who
divided it between them. He, however, reserved to
himself the important coast-towns. In 867 the
Saracens destroyed Budua, and went with thirty-six

372 THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO

ships to attack Porto Rose and Ascrivium, which
they burnt. The inhabitants took refuge in the fort,
and after the Saracens had gone, with the help of some
nobles from the Bosniak city of Kotor (as is said),
rebuilt it. The Slav name is still Kotor.

The bishopric of Cattaro is said to date from the fifth
or sixth century as suffragan to Spalato (that is, to
Salona, as Spalato only became metropolitan in 650) ;
but the first certain date occurs in 877, in which year an
act of the Concilium Delmitanum, when the ancient
rights of Salona were divided with Spalato, enacts that
Cattaro and Budua shall be suffragan to Dioclea.
Bishops of Risano are mentioned in 141 and 591. In
1033 the metropolitan of Salona called a council, and
the bishop of Cattaro went with those of Dulcigno,
Antivari, and Suacia. They were caught in a storm
and wrecked at Bacile near Torcole, twelve miles from
Lesina, and were all drowned. The sailors have never
forgotten the catastrophe. The Cattarines in conse-
quence sent to the Pope, pointing out the difficulties
of communication, and obtained transference to the
arch-diocese of Antivari.

The " bocche " consist of several expanses of water,
separated by narrow canals and surrounded by lofty
mountains, which often rise so nearly directly from the
water's edge as greatly to increase their impressiveness.
Ai The scenery is exceedingly fine, and indeed the view from
the road to Cettinje is claimed as almost unsurpassed in
Europe. The first of the narrows is between the Kobila
range (1470 ft.) and the west point of the peninsula
Lustica. It leads into the Bay of Topla, and the
steamer heads direct for Castelnuovo, leaving on the
left the Sutorina, the lower part of the Canali valley, a
portion of the territory of the Republic of Ragusa ceded
to Turkey in 1699 to form a buffer state between herself
and Venice. The Slav name of Castelnuovo is Erzeg-

CASTELNUOVO 373

novi, and it was founded in 1373 by the Bosniak king
Tvarko I., Kotromanovic. In 1483 it was enlarged and
raised to the position of principal place in the dukedom
of Herzegovina, founded by Duke Stephan Sandalj
(1435-1466). It lies on the slopes of Monti Dobrastica
and Radostak, piling up most picturesquely above the
little harbour, with great bastions split with wide cracks
and deformed by the loss of pieces which have fallen
into the sea, but clothed with ivy which hides much of
the ruin. It has often changed its masters. After the
death of Stephen Sandalj it became Turkish ; in 1538
the Turks were driven out by the Spaniards and Vene-
tians. At that time the Spaniards built the fort which
crowns the hill to the north of the town. It was the
only part of Dalmatia ever held by the Spaniards.
Next year the Sardinian renegade, Hassan Barbarossa,
put the whole garrison to the sword, and also conquered
Risano. The Turks retained possession of Castelnuovo
till 1687, when, by the assistance of the Knights of
Malta, it again became Venetian. Three Turkish in-
scriptions still remain ; one over the door of the Spanish
fort, which was restored by the Turks, a second of 1660
over the Porta Terra Ferma, and a third on the well in
the piazza.

Towards the east is Kloster Savina, a monastery
said to have been founded in 1030, and now the
summer residence of the Servian Orthodox bishops
of Cattaro. There is, however, nothing to be seen
authorising so early a date ; the smaller of the two
churches may perhaps date from the thirteenth century,
since it has a pointed wagon vault and transverse ribs
without mouldings. In this church the Knights of Malta
who died some two hundred years ago lie buried. The
interest of the place lies in the seventeenth-century sil-
ver-work, in which the treasure is rich. It includes some
twenty carved crosses mounted in silver and enamel

374 THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO

from Mount Athos ; hanging lamps of pierced silver, in
which the design is much older than the workmanship,
with medallions of saints ; silver-mounted book-covers,
one of which is decorated with enamels ; a most curious
" five-bread platter," with a cup in the centre, and two
little cruets and two little platters on projecting arms,
all in pierced work of archaic design enriched with blue
enamel ; and some embroidered vestments of the
fifteenth century, all of which are said to have been
brought from Studenitza. Farther on is Meljina, with
a lazaretto of the seventeenth century.

The view from the road between these two places
is enchanting. Above the blue waters of the Bay
of Teodo the ground rises to the mountains,
which divide it from the Gulf of Cattaro, while
farther still and bluer, the greater heights of Monte-
negro cut the sky with their serrated edges. To reach
the Bay of Teodo another of the narrows is passed,
the Canal of Kombor, by the foot of Mount Dvesite.
Here is a naval station. The land is the most fertile in
the whole district, and here is grown the famous Mar-
gamino wine. At Bianca, near Teodo, Danilo, Prince
of Montenegro, used to pass the summer. Farther on
is the Strait of Le Catene, so called because in 1381
Lewis of Hungary actually put chains across it to pro-
tect the inner portions. Opposite to the channel is
Perasto, to the left the Valle di Risano, to the right the
Gulf of Cattaro. In front of Perasto are two little
islands, with picturesque buildings upon them — the
Scoglio S. Giorgio, and the Madonna del Scarpello, a
little church with a green cupola, containing a picture
of the Madonna ascribed as usual to S. Luke, a Byzan-
tine work decked with gold and silver, brought hither
from Negropont in 1452. For many years the Bocchesi
brought shiploads of stone to increase the size of the
island, and still, on July 22 of each year, a stone-laden

THE MADONNA DEL SCARPELLO 375

boat goes from Perasto to the rock. There are two
festivals celebrated here, of which the more important
is that of the Assumption, August 15. The other, the
Birth of the Virgin, on September 8, is less so. There is
a proverb " Entre le due Madonne cade la pioggia/' the
greatest rainfall occurring between the two festivals.
On festival days the picture is decked with rings, chains,
&c, kept locked up at Perasto during the rest of the
year. The property of the church is over £30,000.
For five hundred years it has been a centre of interest in
the Bocche. According to the legend, a luminous figure
of the Madonna was seen by a sailor on the rock on
July 22, 1452, and on that spot a chapel was erected.
The present church was built in 1628. Inside are a good
many late seventeenth-century pictures, and in two
rooms close by are votive pictures of the usual kind.
There is a cafe on the island for the benefit of pilgrims.
The island of S. Giorgio is gradually wasting away. The
monastery is said to have been the most ancient in the
district, and a list of the abbots " in commendam "
from 1 1 66 exists, with notices of the church and monas-
tery, going back to the tenth century. There was a
long contest for its possession between Cattaro and
Perasto, ending in the assassination of the abbot by the
Perastines, who took the property by force. Venice
gave the commune of Cattaro an annual subvention as
solatium. The abbey, destroyed in 1571, was rebuilt in
1624, and in 1654 was plundered by the Turks, and then
almost ruined by earthquake in 1667. The French
erected a battery upon it, which was abandoned some
thirty years ago. The church was restored for service
on October 27, 1878.

Near Risano, at Sopoti (the rushing), is an intermit-
tent waterfall 45 ft. high, which I was told was 100 ft.
wide. As soon as it runs dry the cave from which it
issued can be entered for several hundred yards. The

376 THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO

flow commences after heavy rains, and at the same times
a well, or spring, at Cattaro spirts up with such force as
to throw out stones of several pounds' weight. Above
Risano are two strong fortresses, erected after the in-
surrection of the Crivoscians in 1881. The revolt of 500
men against conscription necessitated the mobilisation
of a whole corps d'armee to subjugate them. They lived
on the slopes of inaccessible mountains, and the troops
had to make the mountain paths into roads practicable
for artillery. The rebels were taken between troops
from Risano and Orohovac, and others who came from
the Herzegovinian mountains. Part laid down their
arms, and part fled into Montenegro. To prevent a re-
currence of the trouble, and perhaps also with an eye to
Montenegro, the forts and a number of blockhouses were
built,, which one may see high up the mountains, some-
times against the sky-line.

A white line about 3,000 ft. high marks the military
road between Perasto and Cattaro ; the way of access
to the blockhouses, in each of which a detachment of
twenty-five men, with two non-commissioned officers
and one lieutenant, is on duty for a year at a time, bear-
ing great heat in summer (for it is said that an egg laid
on the rock in the sun is hard in eight minutes), while in
winter they are often blocked by the snow for two or
three weeks together.

Perasto is now a little place of some 500 inhabitants,
but shows in its ruined palaces and unfinished church
that it was once populous and prosperous. It has had
a stormy history, during which the Perastines have
shown themselves sturdy fighters and loyal supporters
of their overlords, and is the one city of the Bocche
which remained faithful and grateful to Venice, even
after Campo Formio. When the Austrian troops came to
take possession, the gonfalon, which had been confided
to the Perastines by the Republic, as a reward for their

PERASTO 377

faithful services almost four centuries before, was buried
beneath the altar of S. Nicolo with a solemn requiem, as
if for the burial of a father. It was a red flag with a
yellow border, and the winged lion in the centre, pre-
pared to defend the cross planted upon a base rising out
of the sea. It was only consigned to the army in mari-
time and land enterprises in the Levant. The city was
distinguished by Venice with the title of " fedelissima
gonfaloniera." The guards were selected from the
twelve " casate " into which the city was divided, the
names being those of the original feudal families. It is
asserted that the Perastines had the same honour con-
ferred upon them by the Servian kings, the guard con-
sisting of a company of twelve. Some say that it was
their valour in taking the citadel of Cattaro in 1378
which was the origin of the trust. After the contests
with Cattaro in 1160 it followed the fortunes of that city
till 1365, but in that year Perasto put itself under
Venice. The activity shown in assisting Victor Pisani
in 1378 had other results, for it was attacked shortly
afterwards and sacked by the allies of Lewis of Hun-
gary. Till about 1400 it was subject either to Lewis or
Tvartko of Bosnia. It is now quite a little place, with
some 500 inhabitants. The palaces, with fine stone
balconies now falling into ruins, which were inhabited
by the noble families, show how it prospered under
Venetian rule, as do the high campanile and the
fragment of a large church on the model of La Salute
at Venice, commenced some hundred and thirtv
years ago, but never completed. It is entered
from the sacristy of the small church, the arch
and vault of the apse towering above it, and show-
ing the whole of the vault and the caps of the pilasters
over its roof. In the museum are a banner taken
from the Turks in 1654, a sword presented to the
commune by Peter Zrinyi, and the gonfalon already

378 THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO

mentioned, which was buried beneath the altar. A fine
processional cross, a sixteenth-century filigreed chalice,
a monstrance, and several reliquaries are also preserved
in the place ; and here is also the mausoleum of Bishop
Zmajevic of Antivari, who took the Albanians to Borgo
Erizzo near Zara, and was a Perastine by birth. It lies
at the foot of Monte Cassone (about 2,900 ft. high), upon
which is Fort S. Croce. From its base the Bay of Ljuta
stretches away south-eastwards towards Dobrota, with
Orohovac at its foot. The two Stolivos beneath the
lofty Vrmac, and Perzagno may be seen on the opposite
shore. This last-named place stands finely on a pro-
montory, with a large domed church (an unfinished shell
with gaping window-openings) crowning the eminence,
whilst many houses, of the same date as those at
Perasto, and with fine angle balconies, are scattered
about the road along the shore, from which there are
delightful views. A late Renaissance church has a
rather pretty rose-window with radiating shafts recalling
the Romanesque.

Nearer to Cattaro is Mula, and on the other side
Dobrota ; along both roads are red and white oleanders,
orange and lemon trees, ancient figs and chestnuts,
locust beans (carob), olives, pomegranates, and many
flowers, among which may be specially named beautiful
pale mauve irises. The torrent Skurda, or Fiumara,
separates the mountains Pestingrad and Mrajanik from
the lofty Lovcen, which towers above Cattaro to the
height of 5,770 ft. It is the holy mountain of Monte-
negro ; on it the great Wladika Pietro, the singer of the
Servian redemption, chose to be buried, as if from that
height his spirit might watch and protect the land to
which he devoted his life. Every year a pilgrimage
climbs to the white-walled little chapel which sparkles
on the dark mountain side. The Servian dream is for
the waters of Cattaro to be covered with ships under the

ANDREACCIO SARACEN1S 379

eagle of the Nemagna, for the country folk know well
the story of Uros, the great Stephan Nemagna, and the
epic of the wars against the Turks.

In the city of Cattaro, the ancient Ascrivium or
Acrivium, some small remains of the Roman period are
to be seen encrusted in the walls of the clock-tower,
an altar and a memorial to a girl and her teacher.
At the beginning of the ninth century it boasted
several fine buildings, to which a rich man named
Andreaccio Saracenis, mentioned as " Certo zitadino
nobile zintilhomo si de generazion come di richeza,"
contributed. Towards the end of the eighth century
S. Maria Infunara was built by him in the rope-makers'
district, and here he also founded a convent to enable
his second daughter Theodora to lead the life of con-
templation. He also paid for the first cathedral of
S. Trifone, which Porphyrogenitus says was circular.
The body of this martyr of the third century was being
brought to Venice from Asia Minor by certain mer-
chants, when a storm obliged them to shelter in the
Bocche. The magnates of the city and Andreaccio
treated with the pilot for its purchase, and paid 200
Roman solidi for the shrine, and 100 for a gemmed
crown above it. On January 13, 809, clergy and people
went by ship to Porto Rose to fetch the body. On
their return the bishop invited them to stop on the spot
where the church was to be built, and hymns were
sung. February 3, the reputed day of his martyr-
dom, was accepted as the festival, and a figure of S.
Trifone was put on the standard of the city. Certain
coins which bore his effigy were named after him. The
sarcophagus of Andreaccio, in which his wife was also
buried, was found beneath the street in 1840, between
the cathedral and the bishop's palace. A portion of the
ciborium of his church is encrusted in the wall of the
sacristy inscribed : " Andree sci ad honorem sociorvmq

380 THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO

majorem," and other fragments of the same period have
been found during the restoration, which is still going
on. That these fragments were part of an ambo on
three columns, to which reference has been found, is
proved by the inscription from the Ash Wednesday
service which runs along it, " Memento te homine," &c.
The front had two crosses beneath semicircular heads,
with conventional trees or candlesticks beside them,
and a great piece of circular interlacings, small and
large, like the slabs at S. Maria in Trastevere, Rome.
The sides had bands of ornament dividing the surface
into unornamented sunken panels. A capital or two of
the same period were also found, a relief of peacocks
drinking from a vase, and some antique fragments, a
piece of a frieze, a column of cipollino and several of
granite, and a few antique caps.

The rock above the town, called Stirovnik, has a
chapel upon it, the Madonna della Salute, now used as
an ossuary, which has a piece of Lombard carving in-
serted in the tympanum above the door. The present
cathedral was built about the middle of the twelfth
century. A great effort was made, contributions were
invited, and a tax of three per cent, on legacies was im-
posed. Success crowned the effort, and on June 19,
1 166, Bishop Malone consecrated the altars, amid the
rejoicings of the Bocchesi. The head of S. Trifone,
stolen in 968, was brought from Constantinople in 1227
by Matteo Bonascio. At first deposited in S. Pietro, it
was brought to the cathedral on December 20, with great
pomp. In return, he was given the field of S. Theodore,
and his family was exempted from communal taxes in
perpetuity.

The plan of the cathedral is that of a Roman basilica
with nave and aisles. The three apses are semicircular,
with pilasters externally. The nave has three quadri-
partite bays, and a half-bay to the west. The aisles

PLAN OF THE CATHEDRAL, CATTARO

382 THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO

have seven quadripartite bays, two to each one of the
nave, with columns between the three pairs of piers
upon which the vaults rest. The bay before the apse
has been a step higher than the rest. What the
arrangement will eventually be it is difficult to say,
judging from the state of the interior on the two
occasions when I was in Cattaro. The columns of the
nave are some of them Byzantine-Roman, and some of
them Corinthian. The aisle windows and the fine east
window are Gothic. The vaults are most of them of
the sixteenth century, the towers of the facade seven-
teenth or eighteenth, and the great rose- window and the
doorway below, late Gothic with Renaissance details,
rebuilt after the earthquake of 1667. The nave is about
88 ft. long, the aisles within the towers 81 ft., breadth of
nave, 19 ft. 6 in., of the aisles 9 ft. 9 in. The ciborium
is exceedingly interesting. It rests upon four octagonal
columns of the red marble of Lustizza, a place not far
away. The altar was rebuilt and beautified in 1362,
and it is probable that the baldacchino is of that date.
On the base on which the pillars rest are sinkings show-
ing that the altar had a central octagonal pillar, with
four smaller circular ones surrounding it. The caps of
the ciborium are rather richly carved, and the lintel
bears on three sides subjects in relief from the legend of
S. Trifone, the back being carved with ornament. The
illustration shows the three stages of trefoiled arches,
the two lower with coupled colonnettes. The lowest
has caryatid figures of a warrior and a civilian in front
of the angles to the west. The next stage has twisted
colonnettes at the angles, the third squat single shafts,
and on a little crowning member pierced with four
arches stands a gilded angel, the rest of the canopy
being octagonal. The proportions of the figures are
squat, and the carving rather rough. The first time I
saw it I was able to examine it closelv, as it was sur-

CIBORIUM OF S. TRIFONE, CATTARO

To face page 383

THE CATHEDRAL TREASURY 383

rounded by scaffolding, and there were some remains of
colour on the figures ; but I should not like to assert that
it was original, since I understand that the reliefs were
painted to imitate marble, and the figures gilded about
the middle of the last century. The silver pala is said
to be fixed on the wall of the apse during the completion
of the restoration ; it certainly was not there when I
visited the cathedral, and I have not seen it.

The treasury contains a good many rather unin-
teresting objects, such as arm and leg reliquaries of the
fourteenth century, or later rather, decorated with nielli
and bosses in relief, and a few others shaped like vases
borne on stems ; on some of them the date 1483 can be
traced. The reliquary of the body of S. Trifone is of
silver, and rather rough sixteenth-century work, but
encloses a wooden coffer, upon which remains of ninth-
century paintings have been discovered. The head reli-
quary is of gold and enamel, the stem and an arcade
round the upper part of fourteenth-century work (the
upper portion re-made in the seventeenth), and the foot
apparently of an intermediate period, with early Re-
naissance details upon a Gothic plan, medallions in
relief, and rough scroll-work. The knop has eight
roundels with niello crosses crossleted ; on the stem
are saints in niello in vesicas. The arches of the cano-
pied arcade are filled with figures in relief in couples and
enamels in basse-taille, red and blue alternately. The
nielli have had a ground of blue enamel. These two
reliquaries and a crystal cross in a very graceful setting,
early Renaissance in style, are kept in a receptacle lined
with cut velvet, upon which are embroideries of half-
figures of saints beneath niches raised in gold ; above
the niches are domes, and between them twisted
columns, probably originally part of a vestment. A
globe-shaped ciborium, with cresting and knop of the
fourteenth century, is interesting. Upon the globe a

384 THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO

pattern with beasts and leaves is chased ; the foot is
conical and sexfoil in plan, with little niello medallions
and piercings on the perpendicular parts of two steps.
The knop has pinnacles and pierced gables. A half-
length figure of Christ in silver, upon a seventeenth-
century pierced hemispherical base, is well modelled and
designed, and a reliquary cross of wood used by the
Capuchin monk Marcus Avianus, on September 12,
1683, to bless the allied hosts on the Leopoldsberg be-
fore the relief of Vienna from the Turks, deserves men-
tion. In the treasury is also a great Romanesque
crucifix of painted wood, over life-size, with the feet
crossed. According to tradition it belonged to the
church of the Franciscans outside the walls, built in
1288 by Elena, wife of Orosius I. The church was
pulled down when there was war between Venice and
the Turks, and moved within the Porta Gordicchio,
which was therefore called the Porta S. Francesco.
Most of the convents are now used by the military
authorities.

La Colleggiata is the ancient church of S. Maria
Infunara, which Andreacci Saracenis founded, but
was rebuilt in 1221, during the Servian period. It
has a nave two bays in length, the first cross-vaulted,
and the second with a dome enclosed within an octag-
onal drum, and with a barrel- vaulted presbytery before
the apse. An aisle to the north, continued to the tower
as a sacristy, is later. The apse has shallow pilasters
dividing the exterior surface into three, in the centre of
which is a walled-up east window of two lights, with a
cross within a circle in the tympanum beneath the en-
closing arch. The arch of the south door is perhaps a
fragment of the original building, and the west door also
looks early. In the aisle is a Virgin and Child, with
painted faces, and the hands and feet added in relief and
painted. The draperies are silver and silver-gilt, pat-

RELIQUARY OF THE HEAD OF S. TRIFONE, CATTARO

To face page 384

S. LUKA, CATTARO

To face page 385

CHURCH OF S. LUKA 385

terned, and each figure has a nimbus formed of a gilded
patterned roll. The background is of silver, with little
angels supporting the Virgin's nimbus, and there is a
curious frame of filigree arabesques of tinsel set in wire
and standing free.

S. Luka, the Greek church, of nearly the same
period and plan as the cathedral, was built in
1 195 by Marco di Andrea Casa Franci, and Bona,
daughter of Basilio, prior of Cattaro. The dome is
pointed, and rests on four pointed Romanesque arches
with rough pendentives. The apse is divided by pilas-
ter strips into three portions externally, and in the
central one is a two-light round-headed window with
central colonnette. The roof is continued over the
chapel of S. Spiridion to the north (which has an apse,
but no window, except the little rose over the external
door), and this makes the church look square from the
south-east. The west side has one clerestory window
beneath a great unmoulded arch, and a circular-headed
door below, the jambs of which are made of earlier frag-
ments ; the late belfry is of three arches, two and one ;
beneath is an unusual curved ornamentation, a curious
presage of the " New Art " of a few years ago. The
church appears to have been restored in the fourteenth
century, since a consecration by Bishop Doimo II. is
recorded in 1368 ; but it has been a Greek church since
1689, was enlarged in 1747, and the structure shows
signs of considerable rebuilding. The iconostasis is of
the seventeenth century ; the paintings are covered
with silver plates. There is a huge cross with wings at
the base and paintings. Through the central arch the
area and a little cross are seen. The chapel of S. Spiri-
dion also has its iconostasis. At Easter time two pro-
cessional crosses of silver and a Resurrection banner
decorate the church outside the iconostasis. The Cat-
tarine silversmiths have also executed work away from

386 THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO

their own shores. It will be remembered that Stephen
IV. of Servia gave a silver altar to the church of S.
Nicola, Bari, in 1322, the work of Abrado of Cattaro.

There are a few interesting doors and windows in the
town, of various periods. The Palazzo Drago, near the
cathedral, has a pretty window of something the same
style as the east window of the cathedral ; the great
doorway of the provincial tribunal has some fine
heraldry in the tympanum (a helmeted lion, with
another lion for the crest) and angels in the spandrils,
while upon the caps beneath the lintel are other lions,
with shields flying from their necks. These are of
the late Venetian period. The facade of the Nautical
School, illustrated, displays a bold and unusual treat-
ment, and there is a well near the hotel with elaborate
and massive iron-work about the pump connected with
it. The streets and alleys are all of the same width, and
badly lighted, and it is a difficult place to find one's way
about after dark. The only amusement available is
usually the large cafe on the Riva, which appears to be
open at all hours of the day and night — at least, we had
coffee there before leaving by boat at 4.15 a.m. The
gates are shut at 9 p.m., except the Porta Marina. Over
this gate the Venetian lion still appears, a rather late
example, but in refreshing contrast with the griffins
supporting the Austrian arms above, a work of 1814.
Outside are gigantic oleander-trees, and, to the right,
the market, where many Montenegrins may be seen in
their striking costumes. Beyond the Porta Gordicchio
is the wood market, and one for horses and forage is
outside the Porta Fiumara, where the barrack for be-
lated Montenegrins stands, for they are not admitted
within the walls.

Just outside the Porta Marina we found a shooting-
saloon established on our second visit, with a number
of moving figures, which performed on the marksman

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OUTSIDE THE WALLS 387

hitting a certain point, the most diverting of which were
an old woman with a kicking donkey, and two fighting
goats. Several soldiers tried their hands, but with very
indifferent success. Great excitement was evoked by
an accident while the mails were being unloaded one
afternoon ; a post-van fell into the water, many large
postal parcels being damaged, and part of the top of the
van ripped off by the measures adopted for its recovery.
This " Riva " was the scene of the murder of Danilo II.
in i860.

The walls, which are 28 ft. high, were built in 1667,
after the older ones had been thrown down by an earth-
quake. These must have been strong, since the city
was blockaded in vain by a Venetian fleet in 1378, and
attacked by the Turks equally vainly in 1539, 1569, 1572,
and 1657. The present walls zigzag up the mountain
to the Fort S. Giovanni, which dominates the roads
leading into Montenegro. From the fort one looks
down upon the first house beyond the frontier. A little
below the fort is a threatening mass of rock, which has
been bound with iron to prevent it from falling upon the
city below. The Montenegrin road climbs the mountain
with no less than sixty-six zigzags.

At a little chapel with an early Renaissance facade
some way outside the town, the Angelus bell hung out-
side just below the gable termination, without any
visible means of being rung, and we wondered how this
was done, until we happened one day to be within sight
at the Angelus hour, when we saw a man bring out a
ladder and ascend to within reach of a short cord hang-
ing from the clapper, which he seized and agitated !

The military are on the look-out for spies, and our
camera occasioned two or three very searching in-
quiries. I congratulated myself upon having obtained
authority to photograph from headquarters, without
which we should certainly have been stopped.

388

THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO

After taking the group of the Albanian horsedealers
(who crossed with us to Ban with their merchandise)
we wished to have a separate figure of the villain to the
left ; but the next man, who was master of the gang,
thought time enough had been lost, and, taking the

A CORNER OF THE WALLS, CATTARO

halter from a horse, twisted it round his neck by way of
explaining that he was his servant, and that he objected
to any further interruption to business. As we were
walking between Perzagino and Mula an old man ad-
dressed us, asking if we were English, and, on our reply-

THE BOCCHESI 389

ing that we were, said he had been twenty times in
London, and called our attention to his house, which he
said had been inhabited by Prince Nikita during the
troubles at Cattaro.

We saw very few English on our second trip. From
the time we passed Cologne to the time we arrived at
Cattaro we did not hear a word of our own language,
though the boat in which we travelled from Spalato to
Cattaro was entirely of English make, with Liberty
chintzes in the cabins, and panels of coloured plaster in
the saloon. It had cost £70,000, the captain said, and
was certainly extremely rapid and comfortable. In the
early morning we saw the sardine boats coming in.
They carry on the bow an apparatus with a number of
jets connected with an acetylene plant, producing at
night a most vivid light. The Bocchese is a born sea-
man, beginning at the age of twelve, and often going on
till he is seventy. In the Bocche scarcely a third of
the land is fruitful, yet 40,000 people lived in the
district, mainly, of course, by the sea. From their
childhood the boys have always longed for the day when
they might accompany their fathers into the world
beyond the sea. They were always ready to fight, and
expected to have to do so, for, until the second half of
the eighteenth century, it was unusual good fortune to
make a sea or land trip to Albania without being at-
tacked. The ancient houses, with loopholes and little
windows, still look more like citadels than convenient
dwellings. The women had to protect their children
and their own honour when the men were away, and
this had its effect upon their character. In many
villages it was the custom for a bride to go out some
morning before she was married into a lonely place and
sing the death-wail, so that she might know it if she
became a widow !

The introduction of the steamboat has reduced the

390 THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO

employment of sailing craft, and the Bocchesi have
become poor, but they provided the best sailors for the
Venetian fleet, and their seamanship has not decayed.

There were certain variations among the Bocchesi
from the religious customs of the Morlacchi, which are
perhaps worth noting. The great fast before Easter
lasted for fifty days, and during that time even fish was
allowed but twice to the sick, on the Annunciation and
on Palm Sunday. During fasts the people do not sing,
a custom observed strictly on the islands. Three days
before Ascension Day the crosses are taken out of the
churches and fastened to poles ten or twelve feet high,
with fluttering banners ; these days are therefore called
" Cross " days. The village girls make garlands to hang
from the ends of the crosses. They are then carried in
procession round the village and over the fields ; when a
spring is reached it is surrounded, the priest reads the
gospel, and blesses the water and the people with the
cross. On Ascension Day, or the day before, a proces-
sion with the cross goes through the village, and every
house is blessed. In the coast-strip, on the eve of
" Cross Day," there is a frugal supper ; on the day itself,
a dinner. Before both, the master of the house cuts a
piece of bread from the " Kreuzlaib " (a large round
loaf with a cross marked in the centre), and sticks in it
a taper which he has lighted with a brand from the
hearth. All pray before it for their dead, cross them-
selves, and sit down to table. Later in the meal the
master rises with a glass of wine, soaks a bit of bread
in it, and, with the traditional formula, " I to thee, bread
and wine ; thou to me, health and joy," extinguishes the
taper with the morsel. Then he drinks to all, and they
to him. The great piece of bread, into which the taper
was stuck, is given to the first beggar who comes by.
They provide much more than enough for the guests,
as the custom is on those days to feed the poor in

CUSTOMS OF THE BOCCHESI 391

villages and towns. Unless the family is in mourning,
drinking songs are sung suitable to the guests, of what-
ever position.

Fires are lighted on the eve of S. Stephen's Day, and
also on New Year's Day and Epiphany, as well as on the
morning of S. John the Baptist's Day, when the people
jump over the midsummer fires and cry : " From one
S. Giovanni to another, may aching feet be far from
me ! " On New Year's Day the children get an apple
or an orange from the mother, and go to the father,
asking him to silver it ; he sticks a ten-kreuzer piece or
two into it, and they go on to friends and relations with
the same request.

Every village has its church (some have three or
even more), every hilltop has its sanctuary, and each
island its holy place. In Cattaro, till the beginning of
the nineteenth century, churches and convents occupied
a third of the area within the walls, and each nobleman
had his private chapel in his villa. The Bocchesi were
noted for their honourable fidelity to their word once
given, and this probity is still recognised in their com-
mercial dealings. The married sons usually live in the
house till the father's death ; then the property is
divided, and each takes his own house. If the mother
is alive she lives with the eldest son. The house master
divides the food, giving sufficient to each one, so that
he would sometimes go short himself if the girls and
daughters-in-law were not always ready to offer him
the best part of their portions. The country women of
Montenegro always kiss the hand of a male acquaint-
ance in greeting. On the road the man is met on mule-
back smoking, the woman on foot with a load, and they
neither of them would consent to change their position,
and put the load on the mule and make the man walk.
The men wear full breeches, a waistcoat and sash round
the waist, and a thick whitish wool coat over it, which

392

THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO

is sometimes girded with the sash, leggings, and the
usual raw-hide shoes. On the head is a black silk
cap with a magenta centre embroidered with gold
thread. The women wear a coat of the same shape,
but of lighter material, and sleeveless, over a kind of
jacket, and on the head the same shaped cap with
a handkerchief draped over it and hanging down at
the back.

Cattaro has about 2,000 inhabitants, of whom
scarcely ten families are old-established ; all the old
families are dead, or have emigrated. Part of the

MONTENEGRINS IN THE MARKET, CATTARO

present population are Italian immigrants; part are
Albanian and Montenegrin families (to which nation-
ality many of the country people also belong), who,
either for purposes of trade or craft, have settled in the
town. From many towns in Austria come the sub-
alterns, who have married and now live here. The usual
language is Croat, but Italian is generally understood,
and songs with the Venetian accent may be heard. But
all are much interested in the " Marinerezza," the finest
festival of the Bocche, held on February 3. On Janu-
ary 27 the preliminaries commence. The marine officers

THE "MARINEREZZA" 393

arrange themselves on the seat before the cathedral at
midday. As soon as the clock has struck the second
stroke of 12 the " little sea director," a boy of nine
of ten, comes out on the gallery above the door, armed
and in national costume, and, in Croat, delivers a short
speech announcing the beginning of the festival, and
calling the citizens to take part in it. At the end he
takes off his cap, waves it, and greets the standard of
S. Trifone with three " Slava ! " At this moment the
flag is unfurled, the music strikes up, the bells ring, and
the people shout " Slava ! " (which means " Glory 1").
On the eve of the day the outside members are met and
greeted with music by those of the town, parading
before the cathedral. At 4 p.m. the sea director meets
the bishop, who blesses the " Kolo " before Vespers.
The whole piazza is thronged with people, and in the
middle is the body of the " Marinerezza," with the
" Kolo " leader and his company ready. The ancient
costumes, golden knives, silver gypsires, gold pierced
purses, &c, show the ancient riches of the Bocche.
The music strikes up, and the " Marinerezza " begins the
ancient " Kolo " dance, after which the bishop enters the
church, where a solemn service begins, lasting late into
the night. The next day the same dance is repeated
before Mass, after which the relics of S. Trifone are
carried in procession through the narrow streets. Then
the Society feasts the poor of the town and neighbour-
hood in the court of the bishop's palace. In the even-
ing there are fireworks, and other celebrations take
place on the Sunday following.

The standard of S. Trifone bears his figure on a
white ground, with the words " Fides et Honor "ona
gold embroidered band.

Cattaro appears to have been a republic till the
thirteenth century, when it came under the protection
of Servia, and so continued till the extinction of the

394 THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO

dynasty of the Nemagna. A document of 135 1 of
Stephen " per la Dio gratia Imperator de Servia et de
Grezia " confirms all its privileges. It was one of the
most important ports of the eastern coast of the
Adriatic in the Middle Ages, and competed with Ragusa
for the inland trade. In 1301 it was attacked by that
city, and again in 1361. After the death of Uros the
Strong, in 1368, it sought the protection of Lewis of
Hungary, at that time the most powerful prince in
Europe, and thereby lost the friendship of Venice. In
1378 Victor Pisani ravaged the Bocche, sacked the city,
and took away a foot of S. Trifone in a silver reliquary,
which he placed in S. Fantino, Venice. Twenty years
later Cattaro offered itself to Venice, but was not ac-
cepted till twenty more years had passed. On July 25,
1420, Pietro Loredano, Captain of the Gulf, came to
take formal possession. The ensigns of the commune
and the keys of the city were brought in procession to
the representative of the Republic, and the standard of
S. Mark was hoisted on the cathedral. The oath of
loyalty and devotion to the " Serenissima " was taken
by Paolo Bucchia, count, Marius Bisanti and Luca
Drago, judges, and the forty members of the greater
council. The territory was then called Albania Veneta.
The Bocchesi enrolled themselves voluntarily as sailors,
and formed the finest portion of the personnel of the
Venetian navy.

Under the Byzantines the prior was first in the state,
though there is mention of a Catapan in 1163. The title
of the supreme officer was changed to " Rector," and
(in 1 159) to " Count." Till 1398 he was elected annu-
ally ; after that time he bore office for a month. He
was required to be a native of a friendly Dalmatian city,
and was elected by the " arengo " of the nobles. His
payment was partly in coin and partly in kind. No one
could ask him to be godfather, nor could others of

GOVERNMENT OF CATTARO 395

his family contract spiritual affinity with any citizen.
Neither he nor his relations could receive gifts, nor go
to banquets in or out of the city, except for marriages,
and with permission of the greater council ; nor could he
sleep outside the city. He was always followed by a
knight and six squires, clothed at his own expense ; and,
notwithstanding his grandeur and power, one would
think must have been glad when his term of office was
completed. The council of the " Pregati " consisted of
fifteen members of the Senate, elected annually on
S. George's Day. There were three judges selected by
them from the lesser council, which was composed of
six nobles, also elected annually. Till the tenth cen-
tury the bishop was elected by the chapter, from that
time till the thirteenth by the clergy and people, after
which period the appointment was made by the Pope.
Thefts were punished by fine up to three times the value
of the object stolen, and by prison, beating, branding,
and maiming, following inability to pay. Similar
punishments were enacted for offences against the
person ; but homicide of a citizen brought the criminal
to the halter.

From Cattaro it is but a short distance to the
southern boundary of the Austrian Empire on the
Adriatic. A stone column between Spizza and Anti-
vari marks the line. Two telegraphic wires are at-
tached to this stone, one belonging to Austria, and one
to Montenegro. The Bay of Antivari is said to be the
most picturesque place on the Albanian coast, sur-
rounded as it is by lofty mountains, with trees almost
hiding the minarets of the town, while, to the north,
Spizza is perched on red rocks rising steeply from the
water. There is a great waterfall, which appears to fall
sheer into the sea, with a mill just at its foot. Budua,
which is fifteen miles from Cattaro, is something like
Arbe in situation, crowning a projecting peninsula, and

396 THE BOCCHE DI CATTARO

with grey mountains towering above it. It was a Ro-
man fortress, known as Buta, and one of the keys to the
interior. It was sacked by Saracen pirates in the ninth
century, and in 1571 the Turks fell on it and burnt it.
In 1687 it was defended against them by a Cornaro,
but contains nothing of sufficient importance to repay
the trouble of a visit.

XXV

THE RECIPROCAL INFLUENCES OF THE TWO

SHORES

Between the Eastern and Western shores of the Adri-
atic there has been constant communication, either
peaceful or bellicose, from the earliest times, for the sea
was a highway traversed with equal ease by the enter-
prising merchant or the daring pirate. While the result-
ing influence of one coast on the other was considerable,
more distant lands from which the way was open by
the same course can be shown to have also affected
the progress of art and craft on either side of the sea —
Byzantium, North Africa, and the countries between
being the strongest factors. The occurrence of Syrian
motifs at Ravenna and Spalato is frequent, both in orna-
ment and construction ; peculiar expedients which were
used in Tunis and other parts of North Africa appear in
Lombard or Comacine work, while the influence of
Alexandrian and Antiochene art on the styles which
preceded and prepared the genesis of Romanesque
ornament appears incontestable. The close relations
between the two coasts at the period when they were
governed from one centre, either Eastern or Western,
make these influences probable. Ecclesiastical contro-
versies at times affected portions of both, while their
common Christianity necessarily produced community
of interests and sympathy for the woes which one side
or the other suffered from the incursions of heathen and

397

398 THE INFLUENCES OF THE TWO SHORES

barbarous hordes. Nor must the commercial relations
be forgotten, by which, in the earlier mediaeval period,
objects of luxury, which served as models for the local
artists, were spread to all points of the Mediterranean
basin, and at the period of the Renaissance the manu-
facture of such objects as the plaquettes of bronze or
lead which appear to have been produced in Italy es-
pecially, with the intention of serving as suggestions for
craftsmen who were deficient in imagination or capacity.
History records the assistance rendered by one shore
to the other on many occasions, and the interference of
the stronger and more civilised power in the affairs of
the weaker. To those already cited in the body of the
work a few may be added here. The Liburnians helped
Octavius Augustus in the naval battle of Actium ; and,
when he became emperor, he did much for Dalmatia, in
return for the assistance rendered. Yet the rebellions
continued, mainly owing to the rapacity of the gover-
nors sent from Rome, as is proved by the answer of
Batone to Tiberius, reported by Dion Cassius. He asked
the reason for the frequent rebellions in town and
country, and the implacable hatred which appeared to
be nourished against the very name of Roman. Batone
replied : " Because you sent neither shepherds nor dogs
to guard your flock, but wolves." A better regime for
the Dalmatians followed the peace which was made, and
from that time onward Dalmatia furnished many dis-
tinguished men, who rose to high office in the empire,
several, indeed, wearing the imperial purple. It is
suggested that one of these, Decius the Illyrian, intro-
duced the use of the dalmatic into Rome (the common
dress in Dalmatia), which was frequently used by the
nobles of the court of Valerian. Lampridius notes that
Commodus sometimes wore it at special solemnities.
Clergy and laity wore the same dress at that time,
except for a fringe which distinguished the sacerdotal

THE DALMATIC 399

vestment. S. Cyprian, who succeeded Donatus, bishop
of Carthage, speaks of its use as an ancient thing, from
which it may be concluded that in the second and third
centuries it was accepted as the Eucharistic vestment
in North Africa, or worn by bishops outside the church.
S. Eutychian, Pope in 275, ordered the alternative use
of the dalmatic for clothing the bodies of martyrs with
the " colobium " (a long tunic of crimson silk), which
had been in use before ; an order reversed by S.
Gregory. It was used at first by the celebrant, but,
when the chasuble came into use in the Roman Church,
it became the vestment of the deacons. S. Symmachus
conceded to S. Caesarius, bishop of Orleans, in 508, as a
favour, that his deacons might use the dalmatic, and
S. Gregory granted the same privilege to the archdeacon
of the Franks. At a later period the use was granted to
kings for their coronation.

The Byzantines used Istria as a base in the final
operations against the Goths till 555, when they were
conquered. This was the period when so many basilicas
were built in that country, in gratitude for the securing
of freedom to the province from the yoke of the Arians,
and for the re-establishment of the " Holy Republic,"
the inaccurate term which the Istrians used for the
Byzantine Government. The exarchs ruled till 752.
During this period the bonds between Istria and Ra-
venna were close. It was a military district under a
provincial magister militum, directly subordinate to the
exarch of Ravenna, and appointed by him. He was
also charged with the civil administration, and lived at
Pola, which was the capital till the ninth century.
Istrians rose to high ecclesiastical honours in Ravenna,
Grado, and Tor cello. Justinian granted an appeal from
the provincial judge to the bishop, who had also juris-
diction over secular and regular clergy, except in crimi-
nal cases. The archbishop of Ravenna had the right

400 THE INFLUENCES OF THE TWO SHORES

of revising the decisions of the judges of Pola, a right
which continued till 133 1, when Pola gave herself to
Venice, and probably commenced at the time of Maxi-
mian, who was appointed archbishop by Justinian
in 546.

He was a native of Vistro, now Porto Vestre, be-
tween Rovigno and Pola, and must have been a man of
resource and great personal influence. The story runs
that he found a treasure when cultivating his field. He
sewed together two skins of a goat into the form of boots,
and filled them and the skin of an ox from the treasure,
deciding to take the rest to the emperor at Constanti-
nople, to whom treasure-trove legally belonged. When
he presented this remainder he was asked how much he
had kept for himself. He replied : "As much as a
stomach and a pair of boots could absorb/ ' The Em-
peror Justinian interpreted this as meaning that he had
taken as much as he required for food and for the
journey, and became attached to him. Ambassadors
arriving from Ravenna to announce the death of Arch-
bishop Vittore (546), and to ask for the pallium for his
successor, gave Justinian the opportunity of advancing
Maximian, whom he sent to Ravenna with many gifts,
including much of the " feudo di S. Apon'mare," lands
at Pola, and in its vicinity, which belonged to that
church for centuries. Pope Vigilius was at that time
an exile in Bithynia, and therefore the Ravennese at
first refused Maximian, but changed their minds on
learning of his many virtues (among which the imperial
gifts no doubt ranked). His architectural works in
Istria were considerable ; and in Ravenna he consecrated
the two churches of S. Vitale and S. Apollinare in Classe,
built by Julian, the treasurer. In Istria he founded the
monastery of S. Andrea, near Rovigno, and the church
of S. Maria Formosa, or " in Canneto/' at Pola (which
had property in the exarchate of Ravenna), a magnificent

THE FEUD OF S. APOLLINARE 401

church, which has been spoken of in the chapter on Pola.
The " feud " consisted of a palace, with its dependencies,
and three towers in the city of Pola, and a quantity of
land in the district. The wood at Vistro where the
treasure was found was also given to S. Apollinare by
Maximian. In 1001 Otho II. gave S. Maria and S.
Andrea to the archbishop of Ravenna ; afterwards they
belonged to S. Mark's, Venice. A document of 1138 in
Ravenna shows Abbot Paul, of the monastery of Pom-
posa, asking for himself and his successors for one hun-
dred years the renting of certain lands from Martin,
abbot of S. Maria in Canneto and of S. Andrea. In 1200
the feud consisted of many rights of jurisdiction, tithes,
and charges, both in the city of Pola, and in towns in
its territory, some of the land having been sold, with
Urban III.'s permission, between 11 85 and 11 87. There
was a chapel of S. Apollinare and a house with their
belongings near the Porta del Duomo, and three towers,
the country possessions being spread over eleven places.
At this time Engelbert III., Count of Gorz, stole it, and
held it for some time, notwithstanding an appeal to the
Popes Celestine III. and Innocent III. In 12 13 the
archbishop granted the feud to a certain Stefano Segnor,
so he must have then regained it. Seven years later
Simeon, archbishop of Ravenna, conceded his lands in
Istria to Guido Michele and his successors, with the
obligation to renew the contract every sixty years, and
reserving the right of appeals. The Castropola bought
the feud from the Giroldi about 1300 for 1,800 " lire
piccioli.,>

Aquileia was the most prosperous city of the empire
after Rome, having 600,000 inhabitants in the days
of its prosperity. The fleet which kept the capital in
communication with the eastern coast of the Adriatic,
and so with Liburnia, Giapidia, Pannonia, and the
Levant, had a station there. Trajan took the divi-

4o2 THE INFLUENCES OF THE TWO SHORES

sion which was called Aquileian or Venetian from the
Pretorian fleet at Ravenna. It had charge of the Upper
Adriatic from Ancona to Zara, and of the shore from the
Adige to the Arsa. After the Greeks lost Ravenna to
the Lombards the station of the fleet was moved to Zara.
Shortly before, in 743, the exarchate included the Dal-
matian islands, and also the cities of Zara, Trau, Spalato,
and Ragusa. The Slavs occupied Dalmatia in 640-642.
Paulus Diaconus says that they crossed to Siponto in 649
and sacked several places near. The annals of Bari
(926) speak of the siege and capture of Siponto by a Slav
king, Michael, possibly the husband of Queen Helena,
who is named on his wife's sarcophagus found on the
island in the Jader, near Salona, as described in the
chapter on Spalato. In the ninth century the Narentans
helped in driving the Saracens from Monte Gargano.

The bishop of Torcello had possessions in Cittanova
and Muggia, which were confirmed to him in 1177 by
Frederick Barbarossa. The see of Grado had rights
and possessions on the islands, and in Istria, at Trieste,
Capodistria, Pirano, Cittanova, Parenzo, Pola, and Cas-
tel S. Giorgio y but the actual power was in the hands
of the patriarch of Aquileia, who several times settled
matters with his adversaries by giving them things
which really belonged to Grado. With the increase of
the Venetian power to the point at which the coast-
towns were practically forced to yield themselves to
her supremacy, Istria and Dalmatia became pawns in
the political game which was played in Italy, and the
reciprocal influences of the two shores became princi-
pally artistic and individual, rather than corporate or
national.

Artists of both shores worked indiscriminately on
either side of the Adriatic, as may be divined from
the similarity of style in many of the buildings and
in much of the decorative work, even without the

RESEMBLANCES IN DESIGN AND DECORATION 403

documentary evidence which is often available. It is
to be expected that between the early basilicas of
Ravenna and of Pola there should be a great resem-
blance ; but at Parenzo, also, there is a likeness to both
those places, and it seems probable that the same school
of artists worked upon the mosaics there and at S. Maria
in Cosmedin, Ravenna. The decoration in opus sectile
also has resemblances, but these seem more probably
due to direct Byzantine influence, since, both at S.
Sophia, Constantinople, and S. Demetrius, Salonica, the
same form of decoration occurs ; and it is pretty well
established that there was a regular export trade in
carved capitals and columns from Constantinople, the
same patterns occurring in many places far apart from
each other. Comacine work is frequently met with all
down the eastern coast as far as Cattaro, as in Lom-
bardy and the Venetian territory. The building at
Ravenna known as the Palace of Theodoric resembles
the Porta Aurea, Spalato, in its decoration of columned
niches ; and the material of his mausoleum, Istrian
stone, inclines one to look across the sea for the inspira-
tion of the design (which may possibly be a Gothic
imitation of the mausoleum of Diocletian), though it
must be remembered that Theodoric sent an architect
to Rome to study the ancient buildings.

At a later period we have many names of artists who
crossed the sea in one direction or the other. In 1319
Uros II. of Servia sent Abiado di Dessislavo from Cat-
taro to make the silver altar at S. Nicola, Bari. Miche-
lozzo of Florence was at Ragusa in 1463 ; George of
Sebenico was at Ancona rather earlier ; Onofrio de La
Cava did work at Ragusa ; before his time, George of
Sebenico's friend, Giovanni Dalmatico, was working in
Rome, in the third quarter of the fifteenth century.
Bartolommeo da Mestre was frotomagister at Sebenico
between 1517 and 1525, and many artists of different

404 THE INFLUENCES OF THE TWO SHORES

kinds bore the name " Schiavone " in Venice during the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, where the chapel of
the Illyrian colony, S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni, was
decorated by Vittore Carpaccio with subjects from the
life of S. Jerome (a Dalmatian by birth), S. George,
patron of Dalmatia, and S. Trifone, venerated at Cat-
taro. Sigismond Malatesta is credited with the design
of part of the fortifications of Ragusa, where artists of
many nationalities were employed, one of the bells
bearing the names of two Dutchmen, Willem Corper
Cornells and Jacob Vocor. The building on the eastern
shore which had the most effect upon the western, and
indeed upon the whole of the Occident, is the Palace of
Diocletian, in which, for the first time in Europe, the
arch appears springing directly from the capital without
the interposition of the entablature, a building which
was almost certainly constructed by Syro-Greeks, pro-
bably brought by the emperor from Antioch. All the
masons' marks are Greek letters, and many of the com-
binations of architectural forms are found in the dead
cities of Central Syria, in buildings dating from the end
of the second century. The method of construction of
the domes, the great bearing-arches which relieve the
architrave, the exterior niches which decorate the walls,
and the architrave turned into an archivolt over the
tympana of the pediments all occur at about this period.
At Laodicea, Baalbek, Palmyra, and Petra, motifs
which were in use till the end of the Byzantine period
appear. Tesserae of mosaic have been found in one of
the vaults at Spalato, showing that it played a part in
the decoration, as might be expected in so magnificent
a building. Dr. Strzygowski says : " What we have in
Spalato grew in that corner of Central Syria which we
call Hittite, and in the hinterland of Asia Minor, which
communicated with the sea by way of Antioch." In
Khorsabad a glazed brick frieze has been found in which

ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN INFLUENCES 405

the horizontal member became an arch over the door.
The new thing was the putting it on pillars ranged
before the facade, which he thinks was probably done
at Seleucia on the Tigris. The plan of the palace at
Spalato, with projecting towers, and the soldiers' quar-
ters against the walls, is Syrian, of which examples may
be cited at Kasr-el-Abj ad and Deir-el-Khaf (which is
dated 306). The colonnaded streets are a well-known
Syrian town feature, and the plan resembles that of
Antioch, as described by the rhetorician Libanios,
scarcely fifty years after the death of Diocletian. Dr.
Strzygowski concludes that the emperor had seen the
palace at Antioch, which was commenced by Gallienus,
and possibly was completed. He wished it copied, and
therefore brought over Antiochenes to do it.

There are other Eastern characteristics both here and
in other places on the coast, such as the sheet of lead
upon which the bases of columns are set, as in Byzantine
work ; the free-standing apse, found at Salona in two
places, and in the earlier church at Parenzo ; the plan of
S. Maria delle Grazie, Grado, with the apse in the centre,
and the two chambers flanking it, an arrangement found
in a temple of 192 a.d., at Is-Sanamen in the Northern
Hauran, by Mr. H. C. Butler, while the former arrange-
ment was seen by Miss Lowthian Bell in many ruins in
Lycaonia, as has been already noted.

The Egyptian influence also appears to be made out.
Upon heathen tomb monuments of the second and third
centuries at Ghirza in Tripoli are columns supporting
arches cut out of a thin slab, not constructional, an
arrangement just like the Lombard ciborium tops. The
connection appears clear. The ciborium was a tomb
generally erected over a martyr's grave or the relics of
a saint to whom the altar was dedicated, and the form
of these tombs appears to have thus been perpetuated.
That there were links between North Africa and the

4o6 THE INFLUENCES OF THE TWO SHORES

Adriatic towns is suggested by various facts. Coptic
objects have been noted in the treasury at Spalato, and
the patriarchal chair once at Grado has been described.
At Agram a stele is preserved, found at Salona,
which is of the shape of Coptic altars. On it is a repre-
sentation of Jonah being vomited by the whale, and a
head, with a curious kind of form at the bottom like the
plan of an apse with a rail returned across the entrance.
Dr. Strzygowski gives similarly shaped stelai from Alex-
andria and Cairo, with incised awkward scrolls, and
some of Arab date. He suggests that the shape origi-
nated with the altars in the apses above the relics of
martyrs, and says that the Salona example (which is of
the eighth century) is the most ancient that he knows,
and the only Western example. The ivory chair of
Maximian at Ravenna is another case in point. Maxi-
mian, before he was chosen bishop of Ravenna, had
made a journey in the East, and visited Alexandria.
Agnellus gives extracts from his own account of his
visit. Apparently he ordered the chair from the ivory
carvers there after his elevation, for the costume in the
Joseph subjects, and the choice of that history, as well
as the admixture of animal forms in the ornament, point
to an Egyptian origin. It seems probable that Ravenna
was the centre from which the influence spread west-
wards. There were many Orientals in the city, Syrians
being so numerous that they were able to nominate one
of their number for the episcopal dignity. With the
taking of the place by the Lombards the way was made
open for the best craftsmen to migrate to the more im-
portant city of Pavia, the Lombard capital, and so to
spread the Oriental influence farther and farther west-
ward, though of course it also penetrated France by the
ordinary trade routes through Narbonne and Marseilles.
It is a curious fact that the plan of the great Rhenish
churches, with the apses and transepts at each end, is

UNION OF ORIENTAL AND OCCIDENTAL ART 407

found in North Africa at a much earlier date, which
suggests direct intercourse, of which no record has
survived.

The tracing of the various currents which united to
form the full flowing river of that magnificent style
known as Romanesque is a fascinating subject, but
not one to be taken up at the end of a book which has
already run to a considerable length. The fusing of
antique Occidental art with Oriental may be said to have
been the principal factor in its production ; and, though
the shores of the Adriatic were not the district in which
its greatest triumphs were achieved, it was here that
the fruitful union first took place which at various
periods since has rejuvenated the dulled artistic senses
of the Western peoples with the exciting stimulus of
mysticism, of the unfamiliar, of that charm of colour
and gorgeousness of effect, which are characteristicfof
the products of the Oriental imagination.

INDEX

Adriatic, Boundaries, 2

„ Mountains of the eastern
coast, 2
Physical data, 1-4
Alp, or Mora, 17
Andreaccio Saracenis, 379, 384
Antiquities found at Aquileia, 37,
39 ; Cattaro, 379 ; Grado, 46 ;
Ossero, 185 ; Pola, 157 ; Risano,
371 ; Salona and Spalato, 305,
306 ; Trau, 266 ; Trieste, 62, 64,
66 ; Zara, 215, 216
Aquileia, 23

Antique remains, 25, 36-

„ Baptistery, 36

,, Campanile, 35

„ Carved work of ninth cen-
tury in the cathedral,
27, 29

„ Carved work of fourteenth
century in the cathe-
dral, 31, 32, 33

,, Cathedral, 25, 26-34

,, Chiesa dei Pagani, 36

,, Choir of the cathedral, 33
Crypt of the cathedral, 31

„ Early Renaissance work
in the cathedral, 33, 34

i„ Frescoes of eleventh cen-
tury in the cathedral, 30

„ History, 24, 25, 32

,, Mosaics found below pave-
ment in the cathedral,
26, 27

„ Museum, 36-39
Narthex, 35

„ Objects from the treasury
at Gorz, 34, 35

„ The patriarchate, 24, 25,
39, 40

Arbe, 192

Campanile of cathedral, 198

Cathedral, 194-198

Chapel of the Campo Santo,

199
Church of S. Andrea, 198
Church of S. Giovanni Bat-

tista, 199
Convent of S. Eufemia, 199
History, 193, 194
Mediaeval houses, 193
Reliquaries in the cathedral,

195-198
S. Pietro in Valle, 200
Area of S. Marcella, Nona, 242
,, S. Simeone, Zara, 235
Artistic resemblances in buildings

on both shores, 402
Ascrivium (Cattaro), 370
Avar inroads, 189

Besca Nova, 176

Drive to Veglia, 177
Besca Valle, Glagolitic inscription

in S. Lucia, 178
Bocche di Cattaro, 369, 372-378

History, 369-372
Bora, 4

Borgo Erizzo, 243
Brazza, 317, 318

„ Knocker on Casa Nisiteo,
Bol, 318
Tintoretto at Bol, 318
Brioni Islands, 131
Bua, 263, 264, 279, 284
Budua, 395

Byzantine capitals in cathedrals :
Arbe, 194 ; Grado, 44 ; Parenzo,
113 ; Veglia, 172

409

4io

INDEX

Byzantine capitals in S. Maria delle

Grazie, Grado, 52
Byzantine civil casket at Capodis-

tria, 92
Byzantine civil casket found at

Pirano, 97

Canal di Leme, 127, 131, 135

Canal of Fasana, 131

Cannosa, 335

Capodistria, Baptistery, 90

,, Byzantine casket, 92

,, Castel Leone and walls,

87
Cathedral, 88
,, Cathedral treasury, 91,

92
,, Church of S. Anna, 90

,, Door-handles of Casa

del Bello and Casa
Borisi, 91
„ Good Friday and other

ceremonials, 92, 93
History. 86
„ Knocker on Palazzo

Tacco, 91
Loggia, 91

Palazzo Comunale, 87,
88
,, Piazza da Ponte, 92

Pictures in the cathe-
dral, 89
Capodistrian craftsmen, 90
Captain of the Pasenatico, 135
Captain's opinion of Morlacchi, 202
Carpaccio, Benedetto's house at
Capodistria, 90
,, Pictures at Capodistria,

89
Carpaccio, Vittore. See " Crafts-
men " and " Pictures "
Carved picture-frames :

Cathedral, Aquileia, by Giovanni

Pietro di Udine, 33
Church " alle Dance," Ragusa,

360, 361
Parish Church, Mezzo, 332
Sacristy of Cathedral, Parenzo,

117
Sacristy of S. Domenico, Ragusa,
35°

Carved picture-frames {continued) :
Sacristy of S. Francesco, Zara,

237
S. Anna, Capodistria, by Vittore

da Feltre, 90
S. Maria del Biscione, Mezzo,

33i

Castel Abbadessa (Gomilica), 289

„ Cambio, 288

,, Cega, 290

,, Dragazzo, 286

,, Nuovo, near Spalato, 287

,, Nuovo, in the Bocche, 373

,, Papali, 286

,, Quarco, 286

„ Rosani or Rusinac, 288

„ Stafileo, 286

,, Sucurac, 289

„ ,, Early church, 289

„ Vecchio, 285, 287

,, Vitturi, 288
Castropola, destruction of the

family, 159
Cattaro, 371, 372, 379-388

Cathedral of S. Trifone,

379-384
„ Church of S. Luka, 385
,, Fortifications, 387, 388
„ La Colleggiata, 384

Mediaeval history and go-
,, vernment, 394, 395

,, . Riva and Porta Marina,

386
„ Secular architecture, 386
Treasury in the cathedral,

383-384
Ceremonial of blessing the fields,

Salona, 310
Cherso, 186
Choir-stalls, Cathedral, Arbe, 195

Parenzo, 116
,, Spalato, 296

Trau, 277
,, Zara, 222

S. Francesco, Zara, 236
Church of S. Maria de Salona, or de

Otok, 301
Cissa, 127

Cittanova, Baptistery, 106
,, Church, 105

,, Early carvings found in
the crypt, 105
Climate of Dalmatia, 4
Clissa, 303, 305, 314

INDEX

411

Comacine carvings at Aquileia, 27,
29 ; Cattaro, 379, 380 ; Cittanova,
105; Grado, 46, 51; Knin and
Rizinice, 301; Parenzo, 120;
Pola, 149, 152, 158 ; Ragusa, 341 ;
Spalato, 300, 306 ; Valle, 141 ;
Zara, 215, 216

Communes, their organisation, 76,

77
Coptic crosses in Cathedral, Spalato,

298
Costume at S. Lorenzo in Pasena-
tico, 133
„ San Vincenti, 140, 141

„ of country people at
Fiume, 166
country people of Spa-
lato, 303
,, country people at Zara,

211
„ Lussin Grande and Pic-

colo, 182
,, the Montenegrins, 392

„ the Morlacchi, 10, 11

,, the peasants at Rovigno,

128
,, the people of Sebenico,

258
Costume and type of peasants,

Pisino, 138
Customs of the Bocchesi, 389-391
Craftsmen :

Abrado or Abiado di Dessislavo,

of Cattaro, 386, 404
Adalpert, 118
Alberti, Leo Battista, 255
Alexci or Alexis, Andrea, of

Durazzo, 255, 279, 280
Antonio da Murano, 117
Bartolommeo da Mestre, 255,

357, 404
Bartolommeo of Cremona, 352
Bassano, Jacopo, 322
Battista of Arbe, 352, 359
Bellini, Giovanni, 277
Bernardo of Parenzo, 126
Boccanich, Trifon, 275
Bonino, Gaspare, of Milan, 249,

296
Carpaccio, Benedetto, 89, 99

Vittore, 89, 98, 222,
236, 307, 404
Cima da Conegliano, 90
Cleriginus di Justinopoli, 90

Craftsmen {continued) :

Cornelis, Willem Corper, 404
Del Vescovo, Antonio and Lo-
renzo. 132
" Donado Macalorso da Vinesia,"

49
Donato of Parenzo, 132
Ezechiel, monk of the Monastery

of Laura, 118
Francesco da Santa Croce, 322
Fra Sebastiano da Rovigno, 132
Fra Stefano of Ragusa, 352
Frater Urbinus, 277
George of Sebenico, 184, 247-255,

296, 355> 404
Giacomo, son of Matteo da

Mestre, 252
Giorgio Dalmatico, 404
Giottino, Tommaso, 64
Giovanni Pietro, di Udine, 33
Girolamo da Santa Croce, 101,

137. *7> 183, 307
Goykovic, Matteo, 275
Gradinelli, Antonio, 321
Gregorio di Vido, 278
Guvina, 296, 302
Lombardi of Venice, 255
Lotto, Lorenzo, 257, 307
Maestro Giovanni quondam Gia-
como di Borgo S. Sepolcro, 236
Magister Andrea, 302
Mag. Beloa Viccentius, 237
Mag. Domenico di Capodistria, 90
Mag. Johannes de Pari, Terges-
tinus, and his son Lazarus, 123
Mag. Mycha of Antivari, 353
Magister Otto, 299, 300, 302
" Maiste Nicolai de te dito cervo

d Venecia," 269
Massegna, Pietro Paolo, 247
Master Stefanus, 275
Masticevich, Giovanni, 252
" Mavrvs of Trau," 276
Michelozzo, 355, 404
Nicolaus Raguseus, 331, 332,

349. 360
Nicolo Fiorentino, 279
Onofrio Giordano de la Cava, 354,

357. 404
Padre Bonaventura Radmilovic,

308
Palma the younger, 222, 257, 321
Palma Vecchio, 232. 343
Paolo Veronese, 323

412

INDEX

Craftsmen (continued) :

Pasqualis Michaelis Ragusinus,

351, 353
Paulus Silvius Tinnius, presbyter,

322
Pellegrino di S. Daniele, 33
Pietro della Vacchia, 182
Pordenone, 343
Raduanus, 270, 302
Rosselli, Matteo, 322
San Michele, 207, 245, 320
Sansovino, 91

Schiavone, Andrea, 140, 222
Sebastiani, Lazzaro, 90
Taddeo da Rovigno, 132
Tartini, 99

Tintoretto, Jacomo, 318
Titian, 323, 330, 350
Tvrdoj, Nicolo, 299
Vecellio, Marco, 257
Vincenti, Giorgio, 90
Vittore da Feltre, 90
Vittoria, Alessandro, 279
Vivarini, Alvise, 186
Vivarini, Bartolommeo, 177, 182,

199
Vocor, Jacob, 404
Crivoscian insurrection, 376
Croats, or Morlacchi, 7, 9-21
Croats and Serbs, 189
Curzola, 323-328

Cathedral, 326-328
Church of Ognissanti, 328
„ Knocker on Palazzo Arneri,

328
,, La Badia, the Franciscan
convent, 328
Walls and towers, 325

Dalmatia, Climate, 4
Flora, 4

History, 187-191
Races inhabiting the
country, 6
Decay of Aquileia, 32
De Dominis, Archbishop, and Dean

of Windsor, 193
Dinaric Alps, or Velebits, 2, 3
Diocletian's Palace at Spalato,

292-295, 299, 404
Dobrota, 378
Drive to Ossero, 183

Due Castelli, 135, 136
Duino, Castle of, 55

Early carvings in Spalato, 300 ; in
other parts of Dalmatia, 300-302,
3i8

Early Cilician churches, Plans com-
pared with Grado, 52

Earthquake of 1667, 339

Education in Istrian coast towns,

93
Embroideries :

Chasuble in church at Dignano,

142
Mitre and portion of cope in

Cathedral, Trau, 278
Painted vestments in S. Simeone,

Zara, 235
Treasury, S. Trifone, Cattaro, 383
Vestments in Cathedral, Curzola,

328
Vestments in Cathedral, Lesina,

321
Vestments in Cathedral, Spalato,

298
Vestments in S. Maria del Bis-

cione, Mezzo, 331
Excavations at Aquileia, 25-27, 36

Festival of the Assumption, Pic-
tures carried in procession over
the lagoon, 53
Feud of S. Apollinare, 401
Fiume, Ancient Tarsatica, 163

,, Church of Madonna del
Tarsatto, 165
Costume of the country
people, 166
,, Roman remains, 163, 164
Flora of Dalmatia, 4
Folk-lore of the Morlacchi, 13-16, 17

Geological formation, 3-4, 54

,, of Istria, 159

Giorgio of SebenicO's house door,
Sebenico, 256 ; his part in the
cathedral, 253-255 ; works, 249-
250

INDEX

413

Glagolitic inscription in S. Lucia,
Besca Valle, 178

Goldsmiths' work :

Altar frontal at Grado, 49, 50
Area of S. Simeone, Zara, 234-

235
Chalice and ostensory at Mezzo,

332
Chalice in treasury, S. Simeone,

Zara, 235
Chalices in Cathedral, Curzola, 328
Chalices in S. Francesco, Zara,

237
Church plate in S. Francesco,

Ragusa, 354
Cross of Uros I., S. Domenico,

Ragusa, 351
Crozier of gilded copper in Cathe-
dral, Lesina, 321, 322
Greek Benedictional cross, Pa-

renzo, 117
Greek rhyton of silver in Civic

Museum, Trieste, 65
Monstrance at Ossero, 184
Monstrance in Colleggiata, Isola,

102
Monstrance, cross, and chalice in

church at Dignano, 142
Objects from the treasury of

Cathedral, Aquileia, at Gorz,

34, 35
Objects in Cathedral, Pisino, 137
Objects in treasury, Muggia

Nuova, 84
Ostensory, reliquaries, &c, in

Cathedral, Trau, 278
Pala at Veglia, 173, 174
Pala in Cathedral Parenzo, 116
Pastoral staff of Bishop Valaresso,

228
Processional cross in Cathedral

treasury, Trieste, 64
Processional cross in S. Maria del

Biscione, Mezzo, 331
Reliquaries, early, at Grado, 47,

48
Reliquaries, early, found at Pola,

153. 154
Reliquaries, early, in Museo

Sacro, Vatican, 48-49
Reliquaries in Cathedral, Lesina,

321
Reliquaries, &c, in Cathedral,

Ragusa, 344~347

Goldsmith's work {continued) :
Reliquaries, &c., in Cathedral,

Spalato, 296-298
Reliquaries in Cathedral treasury,

Zara, 225-228
Reliquaries in S. Anselmo, Nona,

241
Reliquaries in S. Maria Nuova,

Zara, 232-234
Reliquaries in S. Trifone, Cattaro,

383
Reliquaries and chalices, &c, in

S. Domenico, Ragusa, 351
Reliquary of S. Christopher, and

champleve panels in Cathedral,

Arbe, 195-198
Reredos of repousse silver in S.

Simeone, Zara, 235
Silver statue of S. Blaise in S.

Biagio, Ragusa, 347
Silver and enamel work in

Kloster Savina, 374
Treasury in Cathedral, Capo-

distria, 91, 92
Good Friday ceremonies in Greek

church, Zara, 238
Gorz, Objects from the treasury of

Aquileia, 34, 35
Gradese song sung at Trieste, 58
Grado, 41

,, Cathedral, 44, 45

„ ,, early pulpit, 45

,, ,, mosaic pavement,

45. 46
,, ,, treasury, 47-50

,, Church of S. Maria delle

Grazie, 51, 52
,, History, 42, 43

Patriarchate, 43, 44
,, Patriarch's seat now at

Venice, 50, 51
,, Patriarch's seat and other
ninth-century carvings, 46
Gravosa, 333

Greek church at Cattaro, 385
,, ,, Curzola, 328

Sebenico, 257
,, ,, Zara, 238

Greek Church procession at Se-
benico, 257
Greek colonies in Dalmatia and

the islands, 6, 187
Greek convent at Castel Nuovo,
Kloster Savina, 373

414

INDEX

Island of S. Giorgio, 375

Islands, 3

Isola, Colleggiata and treasury, 10 1,
102
„ History, 101
,, Return of contadini, 102
,, Scuola dei Battuti, 102
,, Walk from Pirano, 100, 101

Istria, Barbarian and pirate raids,

75
„ Destruction of Nesactium, 70
General appearance of coast

towns, 161
Geological formation, 160
History, 70-77
„ Italianising of the country,

7i
„ Original inhabitants, 69
,, Races inhabiting the country,

6, 7, 69, 71
„ Schism of the "three chap-
ters," 72, 73

Julian Alps, 2

Kaiser Brunnen, near Zara, 244
Karvarina, or price of blood, 19
Kerka falls, 260
Klek, peninsula, 335
Kloster Savina, 373

Lacroma, island near Ragusa, 362
Lagosta. 330
Le Catene, 374
Lesina, 318-323

„ Cathedral, 320-322

„ Cittavecchia, Verbosca, and

Gelsa, 323
„ Franciscan convent, S. Ma-
ria delle Grazie, 322
Loggia, 320
„ S. Marco, 322
„ Treasury of the cathedral,
321, 322

Limoges gemellions at Grado, 49

Lissa, 329-330

Loparo, 200, 202

Lovcen, Servian pilgrimage chapel,

376
Lussin Grande, 181

,, „ Pictures in churches

182
Lussin Piccolo, 180

Madonna del Scarpello, 374
Marinerezza, Festival at Cattaro, 393
Maximian of Ravenna, 400
Meleda, 330, 331

Porto Palazzo, 330

S. Maria del Lago, 331
Metkovic, 191
Mezzo, 331-332

Goldsmiths' work, &c, 332
,, Pictures in other churches,
332

S. Maria del Biscione, 331
Monfalcone, Railway to Nabresina,

54, 55
Montenegrin costume and customs,

39i. 392
Moresca, an ancient dance at

Curzola, 324
Morlacchi, 9, 10, 11-21

,, Costume of, 10, 11

,, Curious customs among,

13, 14, 15, 18, 19

,, Marriage customs, 20

Music and singing, 12,
260
,, Proverbs, 21

,, Religious customs, 13,

14, 15
Mosaics :

Apse and triumphal arch of

Cathedral, Parenzo, 114, 115
Apses of Cathedral, Trieste, 61, 62
At Cathedral, Pola, 151
Facade of Cathedral, Parenzo,

119
From S. Maria del Canneto, Pola,

149
Opus sectile in apse of Cathedral,

Parenzo, 114, 115
Pavement of Cathedral, Grado,

45, 46

INDEX

415

Mountain chains : Julian Alps, 2 ;

Velebits, or Dinaric Alps, 2, 3
Muggia by boat, 79
Muggia Nuova, Church, 84

„ „ ,, treasury, 84

„ ,, Fortifications, 83

History, 84-85
,, ,, Municipal palace,

84
Muggia Vecchia, Church, 80-82

Early ambo, 81, 82
„ ,, Wall paintings, 82

Music of the Morlacchi, 260

Neresine, Franciscan convent, 183
Nesactium destroyed, 70
Nona, Area of S. Marcella, 242

Church of S. Anselmo, 240-
241
S. Croce, 240
S. Michele, 242
S. Nicold, 243
History, 239

Treasury of S. Anselmo, 241-
242
North African influences on orna-
ment, 405, 406
Novaglia, 202, 205

Ombla, the river Arione, 335
Oriental influences on construction,

405
Ornament in the West influenced
from the East and from Africa,
405-407
Ossero, 184

„ Ancient bishop's seat from

S. Maria, 185
„ Cathedral, 184
,, Museum, 185

Pago, 205

Parenzo, An Easter Eve ceremonial,

121
,, Atrium and facade with

mosaics, 119

Parenzo, Baptistery and surround-
ing rooms, 120
„ Bishop's palace, 121
„ Chapels of the cathedral,

118
,, Christian cemetery with
commemorative chapels,
119
,, Ciborium, 116
,, Excavations below and
around the cathedral,
107-113
„ Greek Benedictional cross
in the cathedral, 117, 118
,, Mediaeval fragments and

buildings, 122, 123
„ Modern life, 125-126
,, Mosaic inscriptions in

pavements, 108, 112
„ Mosaic in the apse, 114
„ ,, upon triumphal

arch, 115
„ Pala of high-altar, 116
„ Picture by Antonio da
Murano in sacristy, 117
„ Roman remains, 122
,, Stalls in chapel of the

Sacrament, 116

„ Struggles between bishop

and commune, 124, 125

„ The first basilica, 107-1 10

,, The present cathedral,

113-121
„ The second basilica, 110-
113
Perasto, 374~377
Perkovic-Slivno, 262, 263
Pictures :

Altar-piece of fifteenth century in

S. Antonio, Arbe, 199
Altar-piece of 1430 in sacristy

of S. Francesco, Zara, 237
Antonio da Murano in sacristy

of Cathedral, Parenzo, 117
Bassano Giacomo (da Ponte) in

Cathedral, Curzola, 328
Bassano, Jacopo, in Franciscan

Convent, Lesina, 322
Bellini, Giovanni, Organ wings

in Cathedral, Trau, 277
Bruges picture in Cathedral,

Ragusa, 342
Carpaccio, Benedetto, in Cathe-
dral, Trieste, 64

416

INDEX

Pictures (continued) :

Carpaccio, Benedetto, in Com-
munal Palace, Capodistria, 89

Carpaccio, Benedetto, in office of
the Salt Works, Pirano, 99

Carpaccio, Benedetto, in S. Anna,
Capodistria, 89

Carpaccio, Vittore, in Cathedral,
Capodistria, 89

Carpaccio, Vittore, in Church of
the Paludi, Spalato, 307

Carpaccio, Vittore, in Communal
Palace, Capodistria, 89

Carpaccio, Vittore, in S. Fran-
cesco, Pirano, 98

Carpaccio, Vittore, six small pic-
tures in Cathedral, Zara, 222

Carpaccio, Vittore, in S. Fran-
cesco, Zara, 236

Cima da Conegliano in S. Anna,
Capodistria, 90

Crucifixion, &c, on gold ground
with Greek inscriptions, Cathe-
dral, Arbe, 195

Early Madonna and Child, Cathe-
dral, Arbe, 195

Francesco Santa Croce in Fran-
ciscan Convent, Lesina, 322

Giottino, Tommaso, in sacristy,
Cathedral, Trieste, 64

Girolamo da Santa Croce in
Cathedral, Pi si no, 137

Girolamo da Santa Croce in
Church of the Paludi, Spalato,

307
Girolamo da Santa Croce in Col-

leggiata, Isola, 10 1
Girolamo da Santa Croce in

Monastery of Val Cassione,

Veglia, 175
Girolamo da Santa Croce in S.

Francesco, Neresine, 183
Gradinelli, Antonio, in Cathedral,

Lesina, 321
Lotto, Lorenzo, in Church of the

Paludi, Spalato, 307
Lotto, Lorenzo, in S. Domenico

alia Marina, Sebenico, 257
Mantegna, or John Bellini, in

Cathedral, Cittanova, 106
Nicolaus Raguseus in " Dance "

Church, Ragusa, 360
Nicolaus Raguseus in Parish

Church, Mezzo, 331

Pictures (continued) :

Nicolaus Raguseus in S. Domen-
ico, Ragusa, 349
Nicolaus Raguseus in S. Nicolo,

Mezzo, 332
Padovaninos in Cathedral, Ra-
gusa, 343
Painted crucifix in S. Crisogono,

Zara, 231
Painted crucifix of tenth century

in Chapel of S. Carlo, S.

Francesco, Zara, 236
Pala from S. Pietro di Klobucac,

in church of Castelnuovo, 287
Palma Giovane in Cathedral,

Lesina, 321
Palma Giovane in Cathedral,

Zara, 222
Palma Giovane in S. Domenico

alia Marina, Sebenico, 257
Palma Giovane in S. Domenico,

Trau, 269
Palma Giovane in S. Francesco,

Zara, 236
Palma, Jacopo, in Franciscan

Convent, Lesina, 322
Palma Vecchio in Cathedral,

Ragusa, 343
Palma Vecchio in S. Maria

Nuova, Zara, 232
Panels of saints on gold ground,

S. Domenico. Trau, 269
Paolo Veronese in S. Maria,

Verbosca, 323
Paris Bordone (copy) in Rector's

Palace, Ragusa, 355
Pellegrino di S. Daniele in

Cathedral, Aquileia, 33
Picture of school of Titian, S.

Maria Nuova, Zara, 232
Pictures of the Venetian school

in S. Maria del Biscione,

Mezzo, 331
Pietro della Vacchia in S. Maria

degli Angeli, Lussin Grande,

182
Pordenone in Cathedral, Ragusa,

343
Pordenone in S. Francesco,

Veglia, 175
Rosselli, Matteo, in Franciscan

Convent, Lesina, 322
Schiavone, Andrea, in Cathedral,

Sebenico, 257

INDEX

4i7

Pictures (continued) :

Schiavone, Andrea, in Cathedral,
Zara, 222

Schiavone, Andrea, in church,
San Vincenti, 140

Tintoretto, Jacomo, in Domini-
can Convent, Bol, on Brazza,
3i8

Titian in Cathedral, Lagosta, 330

Titian in S. Domenico, Ragusa,

35°
Titian in S. Lorenzo, Verbosca,

323
Vecellio, Marco, in S. Domenico

alia Marina, Sebenico, 257
Vivarini, Alvise, in priest's house,

Cherso, 186
Vivarini, Bartolommeo, in S.

Andrea, Arbe, 199
Vivarini, Bartolommeo, in S.

Eufemia, Arbe, 199
Vivarini, Bartolommeo, in S.
Maria degli Angeli, Lussin
Grande, 182
Vivarini in church at Besca
Nova, 177
Pirano, 93

,, Baptistery, 98
„ Byzantine casket found in
the cathedral, 97
Carved stall in the church

of S. George, 99
Church of S. Francesco, 98
Funeral, marriage, and fes-
tival customs, 97
History, 94, 95, 96
,, Picture by Ben. Carpaccio
in office of the salt-
works, 99
Picture by Vittore Carpac-
cio in S. Francesco, 98, 99
Tartini, statue of, 99
The statute, 96
,, The walls, 95
Pisino, 136

„ Castle and cathedral, 137
„ Costume of peasants at

cattle-fair, 138
„ Ravine, 137
Placito of Risano, 74
Plague, Its ravages, yy, 78
Pola, Amphitheatre, 146

,, Antique marbles sent to
Venice, 150

Pola, Castle, 155

,, Cathedral, 1 51-153

,, Church of S. Francesco, 154

,, Church of S. Maria Formosa,

147-150
,, Communal museum, 157
,, Communal palace, 155
,, Early churches, 150, 151
,, Early reliquaries found near

the cathedral, 153, 154
,, Harbour, 143
„ History, 158, 159
,, Mediaeval walls, and regula-
tions with regard to them,
156, 157
,, Porta Aurea, 145
,, Porta Gemina and Porta

Ercole, 145
,, Remains of building of the

ninth century, 151, 152
,, Temple of Augustus, 145, 146
,, The Roman city, 144
Poppo's rebuilding of Cathedral,

Aquileia, 29
Privileges of the nobles or founders

of the Castelli, 290
Proverbs of the Morlacchi, 21
Punta Planka, 264

Quarnero, 162, 166, 167
Quays at Trieste, Shipping and
varied costumes, 57

Race animosity in Dalmatia, 21
Ragusa, Cathedral, 342-347

,, „ the treasury,

343-347
,, Cemetery church " alle
Dance," 360
Chapel of S. Luke, 363
Chapel of SS. Annunziata,

363
„ Church of S. Biagio, 347,
366
Church of S. Salvatore, 357
„ Dominican church, 349
,, cloister, 351

,, convent, 348-53

4i3

INDEX

Ragusa, Enlightenment in Middle
Ages, 364
Fortifications, 336, 337, 361
Fountains by Onofrio de

La Cava, 357
Franciscan convent, 353
Government of the Repub-
lic, 364
History, 338, 341
La Sigurata, 354
,, Lazaretto and Turkish ba-
zaar, 363
Oldest relief of S. Blaise,

362
Porta Pile, 336, 351
Porta Ploce, 348, 351, 362,

363
Rector's Palace, 354-357
,, Revenue and coinage, 366,

367
Roland Column, 359
S. Giacomo degli Olivi, 363
,, S. Stefano and early
churches, 341, 342
Situation, 333, 336
Sponza, 358

Strips of territory given to
Turkey, 335
Ragusa Vecchia, 367
Railway customs at Spalato, 310
Regulations under the communes,

17 .
Relations between the two coasts,

398-404
Rhizinitae, 369
Risano, 370, 371, 376

Intermittent waterfall, 375
Riviera dei Castelli, from the rail-
way above, 263
Roman roads in Dalmatia, 188
Rovignese craftsmen, 132
Rovigno, 1 27-1 3 1

Colleggiata, Chapel of S.

Eufemia, 129
Costume of the peasants,

128
Funeral ceremonies, 128
Oratory of the Trinity, 129
Pirate raids, 131

Salona, 309-314

,, Basilica at Marusinac, 313

Salona, Basilica Urbana, 311, 312
„ Christian cemetery, 312
,, Sarcophagus in S. Caius,

3H
Salvore, 100
S. Eufemia, Rovignese legends,

129-131
S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Venice,

404
S. Giovanni Orsini of Trau, 278
S. Lorenzo in Pasenatico, 133
S. Lorenzo in Pasenatico, Church,

134
S. Lorenzo in Pasenatico, Loggia

and gateways, 134
S. Maria di Barbana, 52
San Vincenti, Castle, 138, 139
,, ,, Churches, 140

Jousts and witch-
burning, 138
,, Wedding customs,
141
Scardona, 259
Scoglio Orlandino, 127
Sebenico, 245

,, at night, 260

Baptistery, 252
Cathedral, 247-255
Church of S. Barbara, 256
Church of S. Giovanni
Battista, 256
• City arms, 246
Communal wells, 256
Costume of the people, 258
Door of Giorgio's house,

256
Fort Barone, 245
,, S. Anna, 245, 262
,, S. Giovanni, 245, 262
„ S. Nicolo, 245
,, Greek Christian procession

on Feast of the As-
sumption, 257
Greek church, 257
,, History, 246
„ Loggia, 256
„ S. Domenico alia Marina,

257
„ S. Francesco, 257
Slav immigration, 7
Slavs described by Procopius, 8
Smergo — " Dirupo di Smergo," 185
Solta, 317
Spalato, Approach to, 263, 264

INDEX

419

Spalato, Baptistery, 299
„ Campanile, 298

Cathedral, 294-298
Chapel of S. Martin, Porta
Aurea, 300
,, Chapels in the cathedral by-
Gaspare Bonino of Milan
and Giorgio of Sebenico,
249
,, Church and convent of S.
Francesco, 304
Church of S. Eufemia, 309
Church of SS. Trinita, 308
Corinthian vase of sixth

century B.C., 306
Diocletian's Palace, 292-

295. 299
History, 302, 303
Marina, 304
Monastery of the Paludi,

307
Origin, 292
Pictures in the church of the

Paludi, 307, 308
Sculptures in the Museums,

305. 306
Treasury in the cathedral,
296-298
Spizza, 395
Stagno, 335

Stormy passage to Arbe, 200-203
Strzygowski's opinions on palace of

Diocletian, 405
Syrian influences in ornament and

construction, 397, 404
Syro-Greek construction at Spalato,
404

Three chapters, Schism of, 70, 71
Tommaseo, Nicolo, 259
Trau, Antiquities, pagan and Chris-
tian, 266, 267
Campanile of the cathedral,
275
,, Casa Cippico and other
palaces, 282
Castel del Camerlengho, 266
Cathedral, 269-280

,, baptistery, 280

,, chapel of S. Gio-

vanni Orsini, 276,
278-280

Trau, Cathedral, exterior, 274

,, interior, 275, 278

sacristy, 277
tomb of S. Gio-
vanni Orsini, 280
west door, 270-274
,, Church of S. Barbara, 267-269
S. Domenico, 269
S. Giovanni, 283
S. Nicolo, 267
,, from Spalato, 284, 285
,, Gates, 265, 266
,, History, 264
,, Loggia, 281
,, Pains and penalties, 282
,, Palazzo Comunale, 283
Trieste, 56

Arco di Riccardo, 65
Cathedral, SS. Giusto and
Servolo, 59-64
mosaics in apses,
61, 62
Civic museum, 65, 66
Classical carvings in cathe-
dral and campanile, 62
Descent from Nabresina, 56
Gradese song, 58
History, 59, 67, 68
Museo Lapidario, 64
Pictures and treasury in the

cathedral, 64
Quays, 57
Varied costumes, 57

Ugljan, 206
Umago, 104
Uscocs of Zengg, 167, 168

Val Cassione, 201, 205
Valle, Embroidered chasuble and
silver-work in the church,
142
,, Fortifications, 141
,, Ninth-century carving in
crypt, 141
Veglia, Castel Muschio, 169
Castle and walls, 171
Cathedral, 172-174

420

INDEX

Veglia, Cathedral, the silver pala, 173
Church of S, Francesco, 175
,, ,, S. Maria, 175

,, ,, S. Quirinus, 174

,, Defeat of Caesarian fleet in

49 b.c, 169
,, Monastery of Val Cassione,

175
,, The last Count Frangipani,

170, 171
,, Venetian remains, 171, 175
Velebits, 2

Venetian advances, 76
Vilen, 17

Zara, 206

„ Altar of S. Anastasia, 224
,, Antique remains, 212, 213,

215
,, Bo d'Antona, 207
,, Cathedral, 219-222
„ ,, baptistery and sa-

cristy, 229
„ ,, campanile, 221

,, ,, crypt, 222, 224

,, ,, interior, 221

„ Church of S. Barbara, now
sacristy of the
cathedral, 229
,, ,, S. Crisogono, 229-

231
„ ,, S. Domenico, 217

Zara, Church of S. Domenico (S.
Michele), 238
„ S. Lorenzo, 216,
217
,, ,, S. Maria Nuova,

231-234
,, ,, S. Maria Nuova,

treasury, 232-

234
,, ,, S. Pietro Vecchio,

219
,, ,, S. Simeone, 234-

236
„ Church and Convent of S.
Francesco, 236-
238
„ ,, and Convent of S.

Francesco, Pic-
tures in, 236, 237
„ Cinque Pozzi, 207
,, Costume of the country

people, 211
„ Foundations of chapel on

Riva Nuova, 217, 218
„ Greek church, S. Elia, 238
„ History, 207-211
„ Loggia, now Para via Library,

238
„ Porta Marina, 206, 207
„ Porta Terra Ferma. 207
,, Reliquaries in the cathedral,

'225-228
„ S. Donato, church and mu-
seum, 214-216
Zara Vecchia, 244

Printed by Hazeil, Watson <£> Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury.

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
LIBRARY

Acme Library Card Pocket

Under Pat. "Ref. Index File."
Made by LIBRARY BUREAU, Boston

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